After Hours
by birdofshade
Summary: She came in and out of his life, but left quite an impression. Adam falls for a scientist whose only supposed to be there six months. How will he handle it when she's gone? Adam/OC
1. Meet Adam

Adam loved his peripheral vision

Adam loved his peripheral vision.

Everyday he could stare at his computer screen, while seeing her out of the corner of his eye.

Or at least her back…and sometimes the side of her face when she turned. And sometimes when she spun in her chair while waiting for results.

He'd also noticed that she, like himself, tended to listen to ear phones, and on occasion sway to whatever she was listening to, when doing experiments.

But she wasn't doing that now, right now she was talking to Stella, looking angelic, at least to him, as she smile and nodded along with the older woman.

Stella nodded again and handed her some papers, before leaving to the other end of the lab, just as Mac walked in.

"Adam."

Adam didn't hear him, as he was too focused on her multi-coloured leggings swinging back and forth as she read the file.

"Adam." Mac repeated a little louder and the young man tore his eyes away from her to face his boss.

"Yes sir?"

"For starters, it's very apparent you're staring, regardless of the fact that you're not looking in that direction."

Adam blushed slightly, and Mac continued, "And lastly, I need you to analyze these crime scene tapes…can ya handle that, or should I have someone less distracted do it?"

"I can do it," Adam murmured, taking the tapes from him.

"Thank you," he made to leave, but turned just before the exit, "oh and Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't get too attached to that one."

Adam watched him leave and secretly cursed his ominous comment.


	2. Love Me Some hohos

Some time later, Adam had directed all of his attention to the screen in front of him…maybe a little too much attention.

"I want some skittles, gimme a pack of menthols, and, uh, them hohos, oh I love me some hohos and I want all your money!"

"You're Adam, right? I mean I only have photos…but I could make a run to the store if ya really need those hohos."

Adam made the slow turn to face her and blushed heavily. "How long have you been there?"

"_I want some skittles_ is when I got here." She smirked slightly and nodded, "What's a hoho?"

He stood quickly and walked over to her, "you don't know what a hoho is?"

She shrugged and looked up at him slightly, "they don't have them where I come from."

"Yeah,' Adam nodded, carefully looking her over, "I was wondering the accent…"

"Hmm…anyways, Stella asked me to drop these off before I go, so…here ya go."

"Oh," he took the box from her pale hands and smiled at her, nervously, "thanks."

"Okay…bye then." She turned on her heel and Adam checked her legs out. It wasn't 'til those legs were out of site that he realized he didn't know her name.

"Damn it." _And now she's gone, and I won't be able to see her until tomorrow, and I won't be able to talk to her because I will have no reason to talk to her. Dumb-Ass._

Adam woke up on his desk the next morning, with a pack of skittles and a hoho sitting next to his head. He smiled and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced at the clock on his computer and was surprised to see that it was nearly eleven.

Why hadn't anyone woke him up?

"'bout time you woke up." Mac grinned at the man who nodded wearily, "figured since you worked all night we'd give you the day off."

"You didn't-"

"I know. It was Marcy's idea. She said you were sleep depraved as it was, so it'd be good to let you '_check out'_ as she called it."

"Marcy?"

"You know Marcy," Mac smirked, "You stare at her all the time."

Adam groaned and put his head back down. "How much do you know?"

"What do you mean?"

He lifted his head slightly, "What'd she tell you?"

"That you looked like you were falling asleep at your desk last night."

"Oh." Adam's face perked back up, and he smiled to himself.

Mac rolled his eyes, "Stella thought you two should at least be introduced, seeing as she's worked here almost two months and you still haven't introduced yourself."

Adam blushed and Mac sighed. "You didn't introduce yourself last night, did you?"

"No, sir."

"Good," Mac nodded, "Like I said; don't get too attached."

"But why?" Adam whined.

"Because I said so. Now, since you're here, and conscious, why don't you pull up that prom for me."

And with that their conversation was over.


	3. Stellar Stella and Mac Attack

Stella watched as Marcy consumed her third hoho.

"You're going to make yourself sick."

"Am not." The brunette quipped, looking at the hoho, then Stella, before shoving the whole thing in her mouth.

"Attractive."

Marcy flashed her saliva converted snack treat at her and the two giggled, causing her to choke slightly.

"Serves you right, now, gimmie one of those."

Stella caught the cake in her hands and opened it. "What's up with the junk food anyway?"

"That Adam kid made a comment about them," Marcy shrugged, "I wanted to see what all the fuss was about." She took a drink of her water and Stella nodded.

"I guess there was a fuss worth making then?"

"Oh, totally."

Stella shook her head again as she took a bite of her snack cake. She wasn't surprised when Marcy came in with candy at six in the morning, in fact she rarely saw her with out some kind of sugary by-product. She often blamed Marcy's steady calm on her sugar addiction. Which did sometimes lead to "giggle moments", as they were referred as by Danny, between the girls.

"I don't think you're supposed to call people who are older then you kid."

"Watch me." Marcy took another sip of her water and hiccupped slightly. "It's not like I'm giving him some special nickname…like Stellar Stella."

"I hate that." The older woman narrowed her hazel eyes at the girl.

"And I call Danny kid all the time."

This was true. And every time it happened, Danny died a little on the inside.

"Yeah, but Danny's an exception, he acts like a kid."

Marcy briefly considered telling Stella about Adam's little show, but decided against it. It was bad enough he was embarrassed that a stranger saw it, she didn't want to think of how horrified he would have been if it was someone he actually knew.

"True," she said instead, "but I still think I should be allowed to call him kid, and constantly ask him where Eve is."

"An Adam and Eve joke. Original." Stella shook her head and finished her hoho.

"I thought so." Marcy shrugged.

"You liking the lab?"

Marcy sighed, "yes, Stel, for the forty third time. You ask that everyday. Every. Day. And it's still nice, and its still pretty, and I still like it."

She got a glare in response.

"Anyways…" Marcy tore her eyes away from Stella's glare and looked at the water in her bottle.

"How's the hoho?"

Stella groaned, "It tastes so good in my mouth."

"That's what she said."

"What?"

"What?" Marcy mimicked innocently.

"You got a dirty mind, kiddo."

Marcy set her bottle down and crossed her arms, "how come you can call me kid, but I can't call Adam kid?"

"Because you're twelve."

"I'm twenty two!"

"So," Stella shrugged, "you were twelve ten years ago."

"Bah. Ya know-"

"Ladies." The two looked up at their superior and Marcy sighed.

"Hey, Mac Attack."

"Don't call me that."

"But it makes you sound so hip!" Marcy grinned and Stella chuckled into her coffee.

After a moment of staring, Mac continued, "Anyway, we need you to see if you two recognize anyone."

His eyes swept over the desk and he looked at them, "Why are there so many wrappers on this table?"

"Because Tupac opened up the rap game up for a whole new generation?"

-

Half a second later they were back with Adam.

"I thought you gave him the day off?"

Mac shrugged, "he woke up. Can you pull up the west end of the gym?"

Adam tore his eyes away from Marcy's leather knee high boots and nodded.

"This is the last image of the teacher before died."

They stared at the image a moment, before Marcy made a comment.

"I like his cufflinks."

"What?" the three turned to her.

"His cufflinks, skulls and formal wear is always cool…even if it is on a murderer."

"I've seen those before." Adam nodded and pointed at the screen, before going back through his images.

A moment later a blown up image of a prom couple came up, including a boy with skull cufflinks.

"That's it, sweet heart's earned a nickname."

Adam blushed and Stella nodded, "Agreed."

"Not now, Marce, Stella, find the boy, Marcy, Sid's got some bones for you."

"Sweet." The girl practical skipped out of the office, and Adam watched her go, via the gleam off the computer.

"Stop staring Adam."

"Was not."

"Was too," Stella said, smirking.

"Stella," Mac said sternly, "Go."

Stella left the room and Mac looked at Adam.

"You can go now Adam."

"What's she do?"

"What?" Mac turned, again, to look at him.

"She works with bones right? We work with bodies."

The older man sighed, "She just here to get some field work, she's going to be working with a pathologist and wants to get a proper feel for the science. But since she's here, and experienced, we sometimes let her do bone reconstruction. Which is why we're not letting you get that computer software that gives facial reconstructions until she leaves."  
"Wow." Adam blinked, "she's kinda young to be a doctor, ain't she?"

"She's not a doctor yet, just a grad student."

"Oh," the young man looked down briefly before back at Mac, "when's she leaving?"

"Soon."

He left Adam in the room again, hearing him sigh as he left.


	4. Pool

Ideas for Adam's nickname? Mail me.

"How old are you?"

"old enough," Danny smirked.

"No, seriously," Marcy sighed, "What's your birthday?"

"febuary 17."

"No, what year?"

"Every year." He quipped.

"I friggin' hate you Messer." She glared and walked away from him, and he quickly followed suit.

"Come on, you can take the night off. You promised Flack you'd come out with us one time this week."

"I meant like, week_end_, and you both damn well know it."

Danny shook his head, grinning. "You didn't say that, and we need some one to play winner."

"Take Aiden."

"No, she's sick of us."

Marcy pulled bag closer to her body as Danny attempted to grab it. "Can ya blame her?"

"Come on…."  
"No." she shook her head and pushed the elevator button again.

"Come on."

"Damn it, _no_."

"Please?"

Marcy turned looked at his puppy dog like eyes and glared. "I can't go 'til ten thirty."

"Why?" he tilted his head to the side and she looked at the stainless steel doors.

"I've got work."

"You're already at work!" his voice raised slightly and the girl lifted a brow at him.

"I'm a grad student, you know what that means?"

"You have to do everything Sid tells you without complaining?"

"Yes, and…" her voice trailed off and he leaned a little closer to respond.

"You're poor?"

"Exactly."

"You could always bunk with me." Danny gave her a cheeky grin as she stepped into the elevator, where Adam and Stella stood.

"I like men Danny, not boys."

"That hurts right here, babe." He put a hand over his heart as the door closed. "Ten thirty!"

"Ten thirty?" Stella asked.

"Friggin' Messer and his friggin' guilt trips. I hate it when he uses Flack against me!"

She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of the elevator.

Closing her eyes, Marcy continued. "I'm gonna put them both on an autopsy table one day, I swear to god."

Adam gave her a once over before looking at her in the reflective steel.

"Oh, and I'm undecided between Awesome Adam and Adam the Amazing."

She opened her eyes and looked at Adam. "Which makes you more uncomfortable?"

"Uh," Adam blinked and looked at Stella for help, who promptly took interest in her finger nails, "um…"

"I take it I'm on my own for this one." She shook her head and smiled at him.

"So…I hear you've been trying to put me outta business, babe."

His eyes widened as the door dinged. "What?"

"Trying to replace people with machines." She smirked and shook her head, following Stella out, "they'll never be as good."

She winked at him, and Adam blushed slightly. Standing there until the elevator doors closed, alerting him that he should have gotten out.

"You need to stop teasing that boy."

"I've never teased that boy in my life."

"Have to," Stella quipped.

"Have not." Marcy glared.

"Have too."

"Have not."

The two continued like this for a moment before Marcy sighed. "I should just call him Awkward Adam. It's the most accurate one I can think of."

"See?" Stella smirked, "teasing."

"I don't mean too, but, he's…" She stopped in mid sentence and stared at the woman.

"He's?"

"Annoying, but cute."

Stella's brows shot up, "you think he's cute?"

"Well, yeah, look at him."

"But you don't call people cute; you say things like attractive or good for breeding."

Marcy blushed, "that was one time. And what's wrong with that?" She shrugged and went on, "It's not like I took an interest in him for anything other then sex."

"But you take a different interest in Adam?"

"Not sure yet. If he'd talk a little more, I could feign an interest in what ever the hell he was talking about.

"You're awful."

Marcy grinned, "Can't spell awful with _aw_."

"Stella?"

Marcy's eyes widened, "how do people do that?"

She looked at Adam. "I'm gonna make you and Messer where a bell."

"Oh, um, okay, I guess." He furrowed his brows slightly.

"You needed something?" the two looked at the older woman.

"They said the samples you got from the cop weren't a proper match," he smiled, "but, they were a match to someone related to him."

Stella beamed. "Good, thanks Adam." She shot the girl a look.

"I'll play nice."

Stella gave a noise of disbelief as she walked off. "Don't let Danny win."

Marcy quickly turned her attention to Adam. "So, you're you doing tonight?"

"Uh…" his face heated up as he tried to think of something he was doing. "Um…x-box?"

"What the hell is x-box?"

"It's a video game."

Marcy nodded in understanding, "oh, well, if you get tired of your…_x-box_," she looked at him to make sure she got it right, and he nodded, "you should come with me."

"Come where with you?" No way she was talking about hanging out with Danny and Flack.

"With the boys, I'm tired of their whining when I wipe the floor with them." She smiled, "It'd be nice to hear someone new whine."

Adam blushed, heavier then before, but nodded none the less. "Okay."

"Okay, you'll go, or okay, you understand?"

"Both, but I'm not very good at pool."

"That's fine, the boys ain't as good as they think they are." The two grinned at each other a moment and he nodded.

"Where at?"

She gave him directed and winked a blue eye at him. "Ten thirty."

He nodded. "Ten Thirty."

The minute Marcy was out of sight he began dancing.

"Adam, you're scaring the interns." He stopped promptly at Mac's voice.

"Sorry, sir."

"Hmm."

-


	5. Man Love

"God damn it." Marcy mumbled as she pulled into the drive way of the bar. She was fifteen minutes late. Sprinting into it she quickly pulled her coat off.

"_There_ she is!" Danny cried out, throwing an arm around Adam and making the whole bar turn to look at her.

"Heh heh." She blushed and shuffled over to them. "Sorry, cat fight, wasn't allowed to leave."

She quirked an eyebrow at Danny and Adam. "Are-are you two _hugging_?"

They quickly stepped away from each other. "Cause I think Don might be a little jealous."

"Am not." Don handed her a beer as he looked at the two men. "Maybe we should leave them alone, huh Princess?"

"Don't call me princess, and I didn't invite him so Danny could smother him with his man love."

"Why did you invite me?" the group looked at the blushing man, then the pale smirking woman.

"Because as fun as it is two watch you two play pool, I'd rather watch Adam."

"Watch Adam what?" the men echoed.

She shrugged, "breathe?"

"Hmm." Don smirked and Danny looked at him.

"What?"

"I didn't say nothin'."

Shaking her head, Marcy downed her beer and looked at Adam, "have a game?"

"What?" Was he talking to him?

"Of pool, they might be bickering for a while, may as well have a game, yeah?"

He nodded and Marcy looped her arm with his. "Honestly, they should just fuck and get it over with."

"I heard that!" Don shouted.

"And we're not gay!" Danny added, only to have the girl call, "_denial_!" in response.

"You wanna rack?" Adam stared at her and she shook her head, "never mind."

Quickly setting the balls up in order, she briefly explained the rules.

"get a solid in, shoot solid, get a stripe in, shoot stripes. Get the eight ball in lose the game, white ball in is called a scratch. Get the white ball in, ya can't go again, even if one of've ya colours went in with it. Got it?"

Adam nodded. "Where's that accent from?"

"Same place as me, doll," she winked, "New Zealand."

"Really? Why come to New York?"

Marcy grinned at him as he passed her a cue, "What? Don't like me crowdin' up ya space, doll?"

"No." Adam shook his head, smiling slightly, "I don't."

"Ouch." She put a hand over her chest, "That hurts.

Moving closer to him, she watched him lean over the table. "Yer lucky yer cute or I'd have to resort to violence, sweetheart."

Adam blushed and took his shoot. "Thanks," he stood and let her lean over the table.

"I think you're kinda cute yourself."

Marcy smirked, and looked up at him, "is that why you stare at me all the time?"

She took her shoot, eyes carefully on the man, who was now blushing and stuttering slightly.

"Oh, you- you know about that, huh?"

Carefully moving around him and she smirked, "of course. Well, maybe not 'til someone pointed it out to me."

"Who pointed it out to you?" Adam's voice crept along the edge of annoyed…and tense.

Marcy smiled and shook her head, "Does it matter?"

"I guess not," his tone was unsure, and the girl smiled at him.

"It's your turn, babe."


	6. Aussie, and Daddy's Disappointment

Marcy and Adam stared at the older men.

Danny, who was quite drunk, was attempting to take a sober Flack's gun in attempt to impress, what might have possibly been, a transvestite, via his shooting skills.

"Is it always this interesting?" Adam leaned closer to Marcy, but didn't take his eyes of the men.

"Yep." Marcy nodded and took another drink of her water. "Last time it was Flack attempting to seduce the she-male though."

He turned away from the two men, and glanced down at the smirking girl, "I can see why you hang out with them."

"Well, that, and because it keeps away unwanted male attention." She winked up at him and his smile falter slightly.

"Oh."

Marcy nudged him gently with her water bottle, "Present company excluded, mate."

Adam chuckled, "you said mate. I thought that was an Aussie word."

"The Aussies got it off us, love," the girl rolled her eyes and he laughed a little louder, "what'd I say now?"

"Ha. Aussie."

Marcy grinned and took another swig of her beverage. "How's prick for a new word, eh, love?"

He shook his head and took a sip of his beer. "Not nice."

He was enjoying himself, enjoying being around her. The guys had been keeping a careful eye on them at first, but eventually decided to let them be. Marcy had been kind, if some what overly honest (and through in the occasional, 'Awkward Adam', just to test it out), and in return Adam had been slightly reproachful and kind of quiet.

"So, Adam," He glanced at her as she took a step away from a stumbling man, "where you from?"

"Phoenix."

Marcy let out a giggle, and Adam cocked a brow, "what?"

"I was going to make a bird joke, but I've forgotten it, sorry. Did you like living in Arizona?"

His grin wavered for a second, and he broke eye contact with her. "It was alright."

"Just alright?" Adam glanced into Marcy's trusting eyes and nodded.

"It was fine."

She shook her head, "I don't believe you, but whatever."

Marcy turned away form him and her jaw dropped, "oh dear god."

Danny was approaching the karaoke stand.

"Why don't you believe me?" Adam stood as Marcy dragged him toward the seating section of the bar.

"Because," She pushed him into the chair next to Flack, across from the transvestite, "you, darling, have a tell."

"A what?"

"You know," Marcy took a seat next to him and tossed an arm across the back of his chair, "a quirk that tells me when you're lying."

"Told ya she was smart." Flack nodded and music started playing as Danny swayed drunkenly, side to side.

"Oh god," Marcy buried her head in Adam shoulder, earning a chuckle from Flack, a blush from Adam, and a 'you go girl,' from Danny's…_lady_ friend.

"Isn't this-"

"Yes," a muffled giggle came from Marcy who glanced up at Adam, "Is he still dancing?"

"Yeah," Marcy groaned and Adam laughed, gently putting an arm around her.

"Fuck," Marcy whimpered, "I used to like this song."

"What song-"

_He met Marmalade down in Old New Orleans  
Struttin' her stuff on the street  
She said "Hello,  
Hey Joe, you wanna give it a go?" oh_

Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Ta Ta  
Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Here  
Mocha choca lata Ya Ya  
Creole Lady Marmalade

The table erupted with laughter as Danny's slurred speech made its way across the bar.

-

By the time the song ended, Marcy was no longer paying attention to the man, as she had struck up a conversation with the _lady_ friend. And Flack and Adam, were still, naturally, in tears.

"So, how'd you end up in a cop bar?" Marcy's suspicions had been correct, and the woman across from her was a transsexual.

"Oh, I needed a change of pace. It's all so touchy nowadays, and the gay clubs are all filled with those little boys who are just there to disappoint daddy."

Marcy grinned, "I hear that babe. I know exactly what ya mean, seems like all the people in my field are just there 'cause they saw it on TV and it looked like fun"

Michelle, that was the woman's name, nodded, "Mhm, taking up all the money for hard workin' women like ourselves."

"I hear that." The two high fived and the men finally got a hold of themselves.

"I-" Adam gasped and leaned back against his chair, "I never knew Danny could-" He snorted and Flack was clutching his sides, "dance like that."

"It was pretty entertaining," Michelle beamed and Marcy shook her head, "Maybe I'll ask him to be a dancer for one of my clubs."

Michelle ran a chain of clubs known as The Closet; they were dance clubs where people, on occasion, danced from cages.

"He can't dance sober."

"Too bad."

Marcy giggled as Danny danced across the room to them.

"Hel-*hiccup***H**e_llo."_

Marcy shook her head, and Danny's arm off her. "Hello yourself, Messer."

Adam took a quick glance at the clock behind them, "damn, uh, guys, it's getting' kinda late. I think I'm gonna head out."

Marcy nodded, "Me too, split a cab?"

"Young *hicc* people." Danny shook his head as Flack smirked.

"You make sure she gets home okay. Ya got that, Ross?"

Adam nodded and offered to help Marcy with her coat, "yes, sir."

She cocked a brow at him, and quickly exchanged phone numbers with Michelle, as Adam called a cab.

"Talk to ya later, sweetheart."

Michelle nodded and Flack gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Behave."

She rolled her eyes and walked away, or at least tried to.

"Where's my fuckin' kiss?"

Danny hiccupped and Marcy gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Damn straight, leavin' me with no-no…"

"Niceness?" Marcy offered.

"Niceness."

She approached Adam and smirked. "What?"

She grinned and shook her head, "Nothing, I just think it's cool how you put up with my drunken loser friends tonight."

Adam blushed as Marcy gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

"Cab's here."


	7. Beaker

Special thanks to chrysalis escapist, for giving me Adam's nickname! She's my new favourite reader (that's right, I play favourites.). Now all she has to do is mail me some information for her character. It can be anyone she wants. As long as she gives me details.

Now…ON WITH THE STORY.

"This is messed up. Its November, it's not supposed to be like this."

Adam sighed as he took a seat next to Marcy, who laughed at him.

"It's not that bad, the colder it gets the sooner it'll snow!"

He smiled at the excitement in her voice. "You sound like a little kid."

"C'mon," she nudged him, "you gotta like snow, you can hate the cold as much as ya want, doll, but snow is awesome."

"Where to, kids?" the cab driver cut in.

"Uh," Adam glanced down at the woman who grinned at him.

"I live in the Lower East Side, I the Clinton St. Apartments."

"Little Germany it is," the cabbie piped up. "And you gettin' off with her?"

Adam blushed, "Uh, no, I'm getting off on the East Side, but we'll drop her off first."

Marcy grinned at him. "I don't care if you hate snow-"

"I don't hate snow." He glared playfully as she mocked at a sigh at him.

"Sure, you don't lovely." Adam nudged her back and she leaned against him. "But even so, the minute it starts snowing I'm dragging you out for a walk."

He rolled his eyes as he tried not to blush. "No way."

"Yes way, darling."

"So," Adam started, desperate to get off the topic, "what are you gonna do on your day off tomorrow?"

"Probably babysit. My neighbor's got to work 'til six."

"You babysit your neighbor's kids?"

"Kid." Marcy shrugged, and smiled up at him again, "gives me a reason to watch all those old cartoons I used to like."

"Such as?" Adam grinned, here's where they would find out how compatible they really were.

"You know, Jim Henson, Animaniacs, The Tick-"

"I love the Tick!"

The two grinned at each other before letting out a simultaneous "Spoooon!"

The cabbie rolled his eyes with a smile as the two laughed uncontrollably in the backseat. _Their kids are gonna have one hell'va a life_. He smirked, pulling into the apartment.

"Here we are." He announced and the two snickered a moment.

"I'll see ya Monday, Adam." Marcy gave him a quick peck on the cheek and hurried inside her apartment before he could say anything else.

"First date?" the cabbie asked, looking at the man in the review mirror.

"Kind of." Adam smiled to himself as he gave the man his address.

-

"He's such a spazz though." The girl shook her red head as Marcy sat down next to her.

"So? I kinda like him. He's all tense and jumpy and so cute."

"But how can he be good at his job if all he can do is make noises?!"

The woman chuckled at the six year old, "Doctor Honeydew would be dead by now with out him."

"Why?"

"Because he's the only one who really pays attention." She took a bite of her poptart, "he's really quite attentive for a lab assistant."

She smiled to herself and Cara crawled onto the couch with her. "What?"

"Nothing he just reminds me of-" Marcy's eyes widened and she grinned, whipping out her cell phone, she speed dialed Stella.

"Hello?"

"Stella! BEAKER!"

"What?

"Beaker! Look I gotta go, but ya know, _beaker_!"

She hung up on the woman and gave Cara half her poptart. "This is why I love hanging out with you, Carabear."

The little girl beamed and laid against her. "Thank you."

…mean while Stella was still staring at her phone in shock.


	8. Hook, Line, and Sinker

"In my defense, I was on my third poptart and second pixie stick."

Stella nodded, slightly unconvinced, "okay. But still, you scared the crap outta me. What's all this about beakers?"

"Beaker." Marcy corrected, grinning, "You know, like the Muppets?"

"The Muppets? Why the hell did you scream at me about a character from the Muppets?"

"Because, first off, I love the Muppets, and will not have you bad mouth them in my presence."

"I was _not_ bad mouthing the Muppets."

"Damn right you weren't."

Stella rolled her eyes, "That still doesn't give you the right to shriek at me over the phone."

"Yes, it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

"You ladies fightin' over me again?"

Danny plopped into the seat next to Marcy as she took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Yes, Danny, we we're just about to throw our tops off and wrestle for your attention."

Danny glared at the young woman. "Don't even joke about that."

"What makes you think she's lying?" Stella smirked.

It was quiet a moment before the women started giggling. Danny sighed.

"It's not nice to tease me like that."

"Oh, like you were teasing Michelle. The girl thought she would have you for her cages but _no_, you had to go and sober up on the poor thing."

"Shut up," he growled, embarrassed, as Stella looked between the two.

"I'm missing something aren't I?"

Marcy grinned and opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a rather…_interesting_ ring tone.

_Hot blooded, check it and see, I got a fever of a hundred and three-_

Quickly opening her phone, Marcy chuckled, as her superiors laughed at her.

"Hey, Doctor B."

"Hello, Amarcia." Marcy blushed at her full name.

"How goes it?"

Doctor Brennan sighed, "Well, Booth's being anti-social because I started dating his partner-"

"I thought you were his partner." The young woman quirked a brow as her two companions shot each other a curious look.

"Well, I'm his anthropologist, and Sully's his FBI partner."

"I didn't know he drew a line like that…it's very…" Marcy paused.

"Rude?"

"Yeah, we can go with rude. I mean, I know he takes his alpha male standing to the fullest extent, especially when you or anything other female he deems his responsibility is around-"

"Like you and Angela?"

"And Doctor Saroyan, his testosterone level elevates, and he becomes nothing short of a prick."

Young Marcy didn't notice the stunned looks of her friends, and Mac who was now standing behind her.

"Did she just say prick?" Danny asked, leaning closer to Stella, who nodded, shell shocked.

"Uh-huh."

"I know but I still don't like his animosity towards Sully, I mean, I was never this hostile towards Doctor Saroyan when she first arrived-"

"Yes, you were."

"No, I wasn't." Doctor Brennan argued.

"_Yes_, you were."

"No, I _wasn't_."

-"well," Stella smirked, "at least I'm not the only one she does that to."

"Is there a more…academic relation to why you called?"

"Oh yeah, right, sorry."

Marcy chuckled as the woman collected herself over the phone.

-"I can't believe she's blowing me off for a phone call." Danny pouted, but was shushed by the older officers, who were eavesdropping on the girl's phone call.

"Are you free December twelfth?"

Marcy threw her head back and squeezed her eyes shut, the twelfth, the twelfth.

"Mac has me stationed to work on my abilities to readjust the spleen without compromising evidence-"

"How the hell did she remember that?" the man asked as Marcy continued.

"And then, Dannyboy'll probably try to drag me out because it's a Thursday and he knows how much I hate going out on Thursdays."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I know," Marcy shook her head, and made a point to glare at Danny who smiled back at her, "That's messed up right?"

"Well, you did say his name was Messer."

The young woman grinned as she gently nudged her friend, "and he is a mess."

"Hey." Danny swatted her playfully as Stella chuckled at the two, sipping her coffee.

"Will you be able to meet us for dinner?"

"Us meaning you and the crew or just you and Badger?"

Doctor Brennan, although she couldn't be seen, rolled her eyes at Booth's nickname. "All of us."

"Of course! You'll meet my crew, too though, right?" Marcy winked at Stella, and off-handedly saluted Mac, as a sign of acknowledgement.

"I'd love to. I'll see you then."

"Bye, Tempy."

The two women hung up and Marcy was forced to face the group. "What?"

"Do you argue with everyone like that?" Stella asked.

"Only the women I'm real close with," she furrowed her brows together and Stella smiled absent mindedly, "why?"

"Just wondering." Her pager beeped and the group jumped slightly.

"I have to take this; Flack's got a DOA for me."

Bidding the remaining persons good bye, Stella quickly made her way out of the building.

"You're a little gossip, ain't cha, Marce?" Danny nudged her again, and took a drink of her hot chocolate.

"Not gossiping, _bragging_, darling." She scratched the bridge of her nose as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"That's muh girl."

"How'd you remember about the reconstruction?"

Mac, although he knew of her intelligence level, tended to forget how sharp she was due to her rather…up beat, behavior.

Marcy shrugged, "I'm good with little details."

"Does this mean we'll finally get to meet the Washington crew?" the man's blue eyes filled with smug as he took some more hot chocolate from her.

"Yep."

"Doctor Saroyan used to work with Sid, so she'll be excited."

Marcy beamed and turned her attention to Mac, "you know Cammikins?"

"I bet she hates that." Mac smiled at her enthusiasm.

"She does," the grad student shrugged. "Do you have any embarrassing stories about her?"

"Well-" at that moment, his pager, too, went off and Marcy groaned.

"Later." Mac promised, and he and Danny left. Leaving Marcy alone.

Quick as a bunny, Marcy was back at her desk.

First thing she took note of was Adam's absence. Sighing in disappointment, she took a seat behind her computer and began analyzing the blood spatter residue found at the scene.

Adam was avoiding her. It wasn't some paranoid delusion, it was a fact. Right now he was hiding in the men's bathroom. Waiting for her shift to end, but unfortunately, his break, like hers, was over, and he had to go and face reality. Over the course of the weekend he had come to the conclusion that she was, in no way other then platonically, interested in him. Adam was aware that Marcy was the touchy-feely type, and it lead him to believe that it was common for her to kiss her friends (this was also brought upon by seeing her give Stella a kiss on the cheek for handing her a drink) and that there was no undertone to her inviting him out other then to expand her circle of friends.

Perhaps it was because he was self conscious or had low self esteem. But it didn't matter. Because as soon as he saw he bright yellow tights he knew she had him hook, line and sinker. Whether she wanted him or not, he was hers.

((Yes, doctor brennan is from bones, no this is not a real cross over i'm just lazy, and couldn't think of anyone more appropreite. besides, i love old bones. and would've made a freakish amount of referances to it anyways. The bones crew will not have much on time, in this fic. I'm sorry adam wasnt in it alot, but the romance at the end made up for it slightly, no? ))


	9. Not a Lesbian

*MERRY FRIGGIN X-MAS Y'ALL*

Walking swiftly to his work station, Adam made no attempt to acknowledge Marcy's presence, seeing as she was unaware of his own.

Although it was difficult, he managed to ignore the swinging yellow stockings and her swaying pony tail as she moved her head side to side.

"Don't think I don't see you watching me, Beaker."

Adam looked around; the lab was empty other then the two of them. "Beaker?"

"It's what I shall call you from now on." She still wasn't looking at him, focused entirely on the crime scene in front of her.

"Why?"

"Because it's cute and it suits you quite well," She spun in her chair to face him. "Besides, he's one of my favorites."

"Who is?" Adam felt a little strange calling their conversation across the lab, but he knew he would get flustered if they were face to face. Hopefully if the relationship progressed they could keep their distance.

"Beaker."

Adam tore his eyes from the computer screen and watched as she stuck a piece of gum in her mouth. "I thought I was Beaker."

Marcy grinned, "You are. Which is why I called you Beaker in the first place. Gum?"

She held up the packet before throwing it to him.

"Thanks, so am I a favorite, or just named after a favorite?" He put the gum in his mouth.

She popped her gum, "both. If you weren't a favorite, I wouldn't of given ya the name, Beak."

He narrowed his eyes, had she already established a nickname for the nickname?

"Short for Beaker." She explained.

Guess she had then. "Oh. Isn't Beaker a Muppet?"

She beamed again and nodded happily. "He's the awkward lab assistant. Just like you, doll."

"Then why did you keep calling me Awkward Adam?"

Marcy pressed the print button before skipping over to him, and crouching unceremoniously in front of him. "Awkward Adam was too mean. Besides, it's too long."

She popped her gum again and the action drew Adam's eyes to her lips. "Too long?"

"Don't worry Adam," she winked at him, and stood, "you're not the most socially awkward person I know. Thus, you did not _really_ earn the nickname."

Marcy gave him a light kiss on the forehead, before turning behind them, and picking up her printed report. "I miss Jim Henson."

"What?"

She smiled and shook her head. "Get back to work, boy."

Doing as he was told Adam set back to the task at hand, and this time it was Marcy stealing glances his way.

-

"I just think he's cute is all."

"Uh-huh." Marcy had, had this conversation many a time with her little sister.

"Really! I don't like him or anything, I just like to look at him."

Marcy smiled to herself, thinking of a particularly quiet lab rat. "I hear that, Fitzy."

"I hate it when you call me that." The young Kiwi huffed over the phone, earning a chuckle from her sibling. "Besides, just because I think a guy's cute doesn't mean I like him or anything, it's just like…like I could see myself liking him, ya know?"

Marcy shook her head, although Ella, aka Fitzy, couldn't see her. "No."

"Oh, well, ya know how you think Danny is good looking but you are in no way sexually attracted to him?"

"Yes."

"It's like that."

"Oh," Marcy nodded, again, "okay. What's his name?"

"Jacob."

"Aw. Ella and Jacob."

"Shut up!"

Marcy laughed as she flipped through her magazine. "Okay, okay. Calm down, girlie."

"So how's work?"

Most of her family was cool with what Marcy had chosen to do with her life, but a couple people were still against it. She could tell by Ella's tone that one of those people were there.

"Fine. I got my own cute boy there."

"Oh my god, no way?!"

"Yes way."

"Wow." Even thousands of miles away, Marcy could practically see the fifteen year old's face light up.

Ella always did like to meddle in her affairs. She suspected it was a combination of her age and of her natural need to gossip(which she got from their mother).

"Why is everyone so surprised by that?" Marcy furrowed her brows as her little sister laughed at her. That's right. _At_ her.

"Because, doll, it's like…like dogs herding cats."

"Dogs herd cats." Marcy pointed out.

"No they don't." Ella argued.

"Yes they do, they chase them up trees, that's _like_ herding."

"No it isn't and that's not the point right now. The point right now is that Nick owes me a buck because you're not a lesbian."

Marcy gasped; her siblings were plotting against her! "Nick thinks I'm a lesbian? Why?!"

"Well," the younger droned in her accustomed accent, "maybe it's because you've never brought a boy home."

"That doesn't make me a lesbian!" she jumped to her feet, and threw the magazine to the floor.

Maybe the lobby of Danny's apartment complex wasn't the best place for this.

"_I_ know that and _you_ know that. But, I think Nick is socially retarded."

_Why is every boy I come in contact with socially inept?_ She thought.

"Because you're socially inept?"

"Shit did I say that out loud?"

-"Yeah." Danny trotted down the stairs and handed her the jacket she asked to borrow. "And for the record, I am _not_ socially inept."

"Shut up!' she yelled, "I have bigger problems then you right now!"

"Is that him?" Ella asked, laughing at her, again.

"Shut up!"

"Me?" the two echoed.

"Both of you! I am not a lesbian and no, that is not him!"

Danny raised his hand, and heard giggling come out of the phone, "I never called you a lesbian."

"Which is why I like you the best right now." Marcy huffed, and hung upon her sister. "I hate my family."

Danny shrugged, "don't we all?"

Marcy sighed and shrugged the jacket on. "Thanks again, Dannyboy. I needed something professional to wear to Cara's ballet recital."

"And you went with a man's suit jacket?" he quipped, and she smacked him in the arm.

"I like this jacket, it's very nice."

"Thank you," Danny nodded, then paused a moment. "You got a big family?"

"Kinda," she raised a shoulder and took her hair out from the back of it, "two sisters and two brothers."

He nodded, "Youngest?"

"Middle. That was, Ella, she's the youngest."

"Ah." He nodded and walked her to the door. "Don't worry. I don't think you're a lesbian."

"Thank you." She nodded, and kissed his cheek as he smirked.

"Can't have a crush on Adam if your gay." He laughed as she hit him again.

"That's true."

See? Too honest.  
"You saying ya got a thing for 'im?" His brows went up on shock and the girl shrugged.

"I'm attracted to him, yes. Why?"

"Because the kid is practically in love with ya, that's why!"

She wagged at finger at him. "Shouting will get you no where, my friend. Besides, there is nothing wrong with having a crush. He's my age, he's cute and he has a job that doesn't involve him swallowing a balloon of heroine."

"First off-a balloon of heroine?" Danny stared at her.

"I've had boyfriends I ain't so proud of, Messer."

Nodding he went on. "You really wanna get involved with someone, I mean, yer shippin' out to D.C in five months, then Africa. Does he know about that by the way?"

"Not yet."

"Well, ya gotta tell 'im."

"I know that," she glared and crossed her arms as she kicked the doorframe lightly. "You're more protective then my real brothers, and I'm not even sure if it's of me."

Marcy smirked, "Maybe you're the gay one."

"Stop with the gay jokes."

"Sorry."

Danny sighed and put his hands on the woman's shoulders. "I just don't want either of ya getting' hurt, 'sall."

"Aw." She grinned and he groaned, "That's so sweet."

"Ya I know, I melt in the rain. Just be careful, kid like Adam, he's…sensitive."

"I know, I'll tell him tomorrow," she held up two fingers. "Scouts honour."

"You ain't no scout."

"I was when I was twelve. Scouts are co-ed now."

"Really? Huh."

The two hugged and bid each other goodbyes.-


	10. Darfur and Broom Closets

"Adam." The man in question turned to find his favorite brunette co-worker less than a foot from him. Jumping slightly, not to mention with a faint flush, he answered. "Yeah?"

"Don't get mad."

He quirked a brow, "why would I get mad?"

Marcy grinned and took a step closer. "Because there is something I have wanted to do since I first met you, and I want permission to do it."

"Uh-" Not knowing quite how to respond properly, he nodded. "Okay?"

She squealed quietly as she ran her finger up and down his beard. She stopped, composed herself and then cupped his face in her hands. "You're a very sweet guy, Adam."

"Thank you." His face was very flushed as she pulled her pale hands away. Adam caught them in his own as she lowered them. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand as he started speaking. "When are you going?"

"March." Marcy kept her dark eyes on his light ones as she answered. "The twentieth."

"That's only four months away." Adam tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice, tried to focus on keeping the conversation going. "Where you off to so soon?"

Marcy smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. "D.C, for four months. Then I'm going to Darfur for about a year."

His blue eyes widened slightly and he awkwardly looked at the empty lab as she pulled her hands from his. "It's pretty intense over there, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she watched as he turned to look at some results. "It'll be okay, I mean Doctor Brennan's coming and by then I'll have my doctorate."

He nodded as he turned by to her, now slightly more composed then before. "You must've been working on that a while."

Marcy gave him a weak smile that went unnoticed as he looked at the file. "Since I was sixteen."

"Sixteen?" He quirked an eyebrow, "that mean's you must've graduated when you were like, twelve."

The woman blushed as she took the file from him. "This says that the vic had candle wax under her nails, huh?"

Adam gave her a small smile and placed his head on her shoulder as he spoke, "Yep. Maybe one of those people who like to re-enact the early nineteenth century?"

"Maybe," she leaned back against him and flipped a page, "was it scented?"

He gave her a contained smile. "Does that matter?"

"It does if she had sex before she died, which she did." Marcy turned and looked up at him. "Do you know anywhere around here that has good pie?"

Resting his forehead on hers, he shook his head, "nope, why?"

"Friends from D.C are coming down, and Badger'll bitch himself into a fit if he doesn't find any good pie…wanna get out of here? I mean, we stayed late voluntarily, Mac said we could leave whenever we want."

Adam blinked at her. Marcy blinked back.

"Okay."

Grinning, the grad student leaned up and placed a soft kiss on the lab assistant's lips. "You're a very sweet man," snapping him out of his happy gaze, the two smiled stupidly at each other a moment before Marcy went on. "Let's get some pie."

-

Aiden paused as she saw Stella standing in the doorway of the lunch room.

"What'cha starin' at?" She followed the curly haired woman's finger to a couple playing footsies under a table near by. Chuckling the woman smiled. "About time, Danny said if they took any longer he was gonna lock 'em in a broom closet."

Stella glanced at Aiden, "is Mac aware of these devious plans the two of you come up with?"

"'Course. Like we'd do anything without the Boss Man's permission." Stella rolled her eyes at her younger friend's sarcasm as Marcy offered Adam a cupcake. He smiled as he took it.

"What's with the sweet tooth anyway?" He inquired quietly, as she licked some frosting off the top of her own.

Shrugging she smiled, "I don't know. Probably some hereditary mutation causing an over active saliva gland to function around products with granulated sweetener in them-what?"

Adam smiled wider and shook his head as he nudged her foot with his own. "Nothin'."

She nudged him back, smiling slightly still. "It's not nothin'."

"When is the doctor coming to town?"

"Brennan?" He nodded, and Marcy answered, "about a week."

"Excited?" Adam, although he would never admit it (out loud), was not. He knew that this would be one of many visits that pertained to her getting fitted with a FBI partner.

"Yeah, it'll be good to see the group again, and Angelfish wants to go shopping and shit incase I die in Darfur."

Marcy looked up from her cupcake to Adam's horrified expression. "What? Those are her words not mine."

"Mmhm." Looking unconvinced he nodded as Marcy leaned over and kissed him over the cheek. "I'll be fine.

"Promise?" Marcy barely caught the man's murmur but smiled encouragingly none the less. "Promise."


	11. Puffs

"Why isn't it snowing?!" Marcy whined as Don Flack opened his door.

"It's ten at night." He stared at her. "The question you should be asking is why aren't you at home?"

The woman shrugged and pulled the bright yellow pea coat she was wearing tighter to her body. "I'm on my way. I came over to give you this."

Don glanced at the box in his hands. "Cereal Killer?"

"Uh-huh!" Marcy grinned, "Erica made it for you when she found out I worked with cops."

He stared at her again, longer this time. Taking this as a hint to continue, the perky young woman did just that. "Erica's my boss' girlfriend, and she likes to come up with new kinds of cereal for the Milky Way-"

"The what?"

"It's like the list of all the cereals-"

Flack put his hand up, "Where the hell do you work?"

"Puffs."

"What the hell is Puffs?"

Marcy grinned, "A cereal bar. Anyways, she found out I was hanging with 5-O so she made this special cereal for you. It's basically the badges from lucky charms, bacon bits, cookie crisp-"

Catching the look on the officer's face, she explained. "Cookie Crisp had a little cartoon police man in the commercial." She went on with the mixture, "the _Gremlins_ cereal, Cap'n Crunch, but technically I think he'd be with NCI-"

"Bacon bits?" Don inquired incredulously.

"Well, imitation." Marcy shrugged, "she's vegan."

"You came here, in the dead of night-"

She lifted a brow, "It's ten, that's boarder lining evening in New York."

"Whatever," He shook his head, "come on," he pulled a jacket off the coat racket behind the door and shrugged it on. "I'll drive ya home."

Closing, and locking the door behind him, they turned to leave. Halfway down the hall he asked, "She really put bacon bits in my cereal?"

"Uh-huh."

-

"Adam."

The young man tensed, but turned around none the same. "Hey, boss, uh, what's up?"

"My office. Now." Mac nodded to Marcy who waved and went back to putting the murder weapon, a broken bottle, back together.

"Right now, I was kind of trying to narrow down what-"

"Fine, as soon as you're done then." The former marine left without saying good bye and Adam sat back at his computer.

"What was all that about?"

Marcy glanced up at his voice. "Maybe he was trying to seduce you. Angela said when an authority figure, especially a male one, wants to assert their dominance they may try to do so by asking sexual favors."

"Um," Adam turned to her, "I don't think I'm his type."

"Oh. Well, then maybe you're getting fired."

His eyes widened and Marcy went on, "or promoted. He really was quite ominous about the whole thing."

"You really think I could be getting fired?"

"Well," She smiled as she turned to face him as well. His worried expression causing her own smile to falter as she took his shoulders in her hands. "Considering how amazing you are at your job, I don't think you're getting fired. It would be foolish to lose someone with such a high efficiency level."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, "then again, they did just fire Aiden so we can't over look that."

Adam glanced at Marcy and shook his head. "You're not really making me feel better."

"I'm sorry." She muttered and promptly threw her arms around him. "I think it'll be okay."

"That's better." He chuckled and rested his head against her own. "Thanks for tryin'."

The woman sighed and nudged him with her forehead. "It'll be fine, I promise."

Marcy pulled away, grinning, "And if it's not you can always go leave in New Zealand and herd sheep with my Uncle Cyrus."

"I like sheep." Adam grinned, and Marcy gave him a peck on the cheek as he stood, "better go face the music."

"I'll keep it right here." He watched as she put his Ipod in a drawer.

"Uh-"

-

"Field duty?" Marcy asked as she took a bite of her Twinkie. "That's good right?"

Adam grinned and took the second snack cake from her pack(she had offered it to him at least four times prior, and now was taking it out of good humor rather then the last one, which was out of annoyance). "Yep. Cyrus can herd his own sheep!"

She swallowed and made a _squee_ of happiness. "I think we should celebrate! Come by tonight, I'll get you free cereal."

"Where, at Puffs?" Adam had heard about Don Flack's experience with this chick's cereal. He wasn't sure he'd be able to fake a smile while eating milk covered bacon bits.

"Yeah, we'll let you make your own. Why?" She asked, and Adam was unsure if he was supposed to answer; so he just stared at her and remained silent.

"Because you're awesome." The bubbly woman answered.

A grin spread across his face and he nodded, "okay."

-

For a dirty hippie establishment, Puffs was a lot cleaner then Adam expected. With various music posters and pale lime green walls, the small store was a rather comforting space.

A slow jazz song played in the back round and he took a seat on one of the bar stools.

The place was rather empty except a couple who were cooing over each other in the corner and a rather casually dressed man behind the counter.

"Hey, man, what's up?" he asked, as he leafed through the comic section of the New Yorker.

Adam shrugged, "not much, Marcy said I should meet her here-"

The man broke into a grin, "oh. You must be Beaker."

The lab tech blushed, "My name's actually Adam, but yeah, I go by that too, I guess."

"I like you, kid," the man, who may have actually been younger then him, drawled happily, "got a good vibe to ya."

He leaned a little closer to Adam, and whispered, "And let's face it, a hell'va a lot calmer then she is, which might be good for 'er." The man pulled away, "not that there's anything wrong with her just the way she is."

"Of course," Adam nodded and the man stuck his hand out.

"I'm Eric, I manage the joint."

Eric smiled as Adam shook his hand. "Adam."

"Awesome, I'll go get yer girl," catching the questioning look, he went on, "Her and Josie are trying to come up with a cereal for you."

"Ah." Adam nodded, and waited for what would surely be hell to come.


	12. Croonchy Stars and Naughty Language

"Hiya!" Adam turned to a smirking, girl-well, woman, with white hair and pink eye shadow.

"Um, hello?" He responded as she took a seat on the bar stool next to him.

The girl woman popped her gum and grinned. "You must be the Ross boy."

He nodded, yet another woman in his life he had difficulty responding to. Unsurprising she was a friend of Marcy's. "Yep."

"I'm Josie." They shook hands as another woman took a seat on the other bar stool next to him.

"Well?" The new woman, dressed in a short skirt and belly top, looked at Josie.

"Seems nice enough," She answered and Adam could literally feel the temperature drop as the other woman looked him over.

"I hear yer a cop."

He looked at her, "I'm a lab technician at the crime lab."

She chuckled. "Science geek, huh?"

"Come off it, Harp." Josie snapped and stood up from the stool, crossing her arm. "If ya can't play nice I'll just have to teach you some manners," she smirked, "again."

Harper rolled her eyes as she, too, stood. Adam silently pleaded for his co-worker to come out. It went unanswered as the two women began staring each other down, and it wasn't until the two were less then a foot apart that she made her appearance.

Marcy rolled her eyes as she emerged from the back room. She gently leaned across the counter and gave Adam a peck on his turned away cheek. Jumping slightly he faced the smiling woman who jerked her head to the left. When he cocked his eyebrow she took his arm and pulled him toward the lift-able counter top. He made his way behind the counter just as Harper shoved Josie.

"It's safer back here," Marcy assured him and pulled out-

"Is that a beaker?" He asked and she smiled, tugging him closer by his shirt.

"You know you're my only Beaker." She looked up, cocking a brow at herself, then corrected, "Well, my favorite Beaker, and I'm sure you hold much more liquid than this one."

He smiled as she turned and reached up to pull some cereal off the shelf. And that's when Eric separated the two fist fighting girls.

Adam watched as Marcy poured Quaker Oats, Honey Comb, Berry Bones, Croonchy Stars and some milk.

"What's this?" He picked up the Croonchy Stars box and looked at it. Naturally it was a Muppets Cereal.

Marcy took the box from him, "it's not the original, but its close." She mixed the cereal together in the beaker as she went on. "Quaker Oaks was once indorsed by Mr. T, who has a beard, like you. Honey Comb is off the wall, and I freakin' love that little dude, like you. And Scooby Doo solves crimes."

She hopped and sat on the counter as she pushed the beaker towards him. "Don't worry, I didn't put any meat in it."

Adam grinned at her and hopped up next to her, as she had indicated him to do.

"Thanks." He glanced at her as he took a bite. It wasn't bad, and true to her word, meat free. She leaned against him as he ate it, and absent mindedly played with a hole in his jeans.

"I'm sorry Harper called you a science geek," she muttered.

He nodded, "it's okay."

"You're really more of a nerd." Marcy perked up and crossed her legs, pulling away from him. Tilting her head she observed him for a moment before a blush, which did not go unnoticed by Adam, crossed her cheeks. Quick to look away, she smiled a little and got off the counter.

"How was work?" She inquired, taking the empty container from him.

"Good, you?" He smirked as she shuffled around, biting her lip slightly.

Marcy smiled weakly, "boring. Eric getting called a mother fucker by an elderly lady was interesting though." It was this statement that made Adam seriously contemplate quitting his job and working here with her, living off cereal and listening to her cuss in her accustomed accent.

"Adam?" He snapped out of his daze as she waved her hand in front of his face-which had a stupid grin on it. "Yeah?"

The woman grinned, equally as stupid, and once again threw her arms around him.

He stared down at her a moment, before feeling compelled to ask, "what did you mean nerdy?"

"Oh, don't worry, Beaker, you're still one sexy son of a bitch. The nerd thing is just a bonus."

And for the first time Adam let himself kiss her.


	13. Inbred and Underfed

"Hop, damnit, hop!" Mercy shrieked and threw her control down as Adam chuckled.

"It's just a game."

Marcy turned to glare at him from her spot on the floor. "I hate that little plumber."

Six hours after their meeting in Puffs the unofficial couple sat in his apartment, as he tried to teach her about the X-box.

"Here," Adam motioned for her to pass him the controller, "I'll show you."

Smiling deviously, Marcy shook her head. "No."

He cocked a brow, "no?"

She nodded her head, "no."

"Why no?" the man asked as she placed the control behind her back.

"Because you shall once again upstage me and my ego can just not allow that, Mr. Ross."

His blue eyes narrowed slightly, "don't call me that."

"Call you what, Mr. Ross?" Her eyes twinkled as she stood and took a step back.

"That." Marcy tilted her head at the slight plead in his voice and nodded.

"Okay, Beak." She nodded and quickly walked over to him and dropped the controller in his lap, "show a girl how it's really done."

.Ten minutes later.

"Ow!"

"What did I tell you about upsetting my ego?!"

Adam laughed as Marcy attempted to flick him again. It hadn't really hurt…just caught him off guard. He caught her hand just as it came up to his ear again and placed it on her knee.

This did not stop her in the least, choosing to simple pounce on him instead. Adam let out a small yelp as the two of them toppled on to the floor.

"What was that for?"

Marcy grinned as he tried to pull himself off her, only for her to grab him by the shirt and yank him back down. "Not everything has to have a reason, babe."

Adam stared at her a long moment as she smile up at him contently. Finally he broke the silence.

"You're parents are hippies aren't they?"

She shrugged, and sat up with him, "maybe a little."

Leaning against his sofa the two sat in mildly awkward silence until the woman spoke again, "my boss is dating a girl named Erica."

He glanced down at her, "and?"

"And his name is Eric. And I have this theory that they are actually twins separated at birth."

"Why?" Adam smiled as he looked at her, over dramatic, but completely serious expression.

"Because they're one of those couples that have been together so long that they start to look like each other."

"Yeah," he nodded, "those are creepy."

"I don't know why the hell that's allowed, I mean what if it turns out they really are related and they have children who are all interbred and malnourished."

"Malnourished?"

"They only eat cereal." She looked up at him, "even outside of work. I love them but they're freaks." Resting her head on his chest she played with a hole in his jeans.

"Isn't Doctor Brennan coming tomorrow?" Adam asked and she simply nodded, listening to the upbeat music come out of the screen. "Am I going to meet her?"

"God I hope not."

Her blatant response startled him, "why not?"

"Because then Angela will come, and then the boys will come, and then there will be threats on your life and really awkward questions involving your current and past sex life."

There was a beat before, "I could handle that."

Marcy let out a shriek of joy and threw her arms around him. "Thank you!"

Adam grinned and hugged her back, as she settled in closer to his chest. "No problem."

She sighed, patting him gently on the chest before letting it fall there, "oh, I'm sure it will be."

Feeling her nestled into his chest, her hand running once again over the hole in his jeans, gently caressing the skin that lay under it…Adam sure he would have no problem with anything her people threw at him.

-And in a way, he was right. The lab, along with Adam's nerves, was buzzing with excitement of the famed doctor coming as well as Cam's return. Without realizing it, he had begun clicking his pen franticly as he waited for his results to come up.

"Adam."

He jumped at the voice, "yes, sir?"

Mac rolled his eyes, "stop clicking the pen, it's putting the others on edge."

"Sorry," Adam chuckled falsely, then jumped once again when the computer signaled the completion of the test. "The tox report-"

"You're nervous about Doctor Brennan's arrival, I take it?" Mac watched the younger man flush and try to keep composed.

"What? No, I mean it's not like it's a big deal or anything…" he looked at him, "its not is it?"

"Of course it is."

Adam's eyes widened dramatically, and he let out a struggled, "what?!"

"She wants you to meet her boss, to hear their opinion about you." Mac glanced at his watch as he continued, "these people are the closest thing to family she's got around. It's like meeting her parents, I hope you know that."

"I do now." Adam muttered.

"Well, they should be here any minute, so prepare yourself." Mac nodded his goodbye and Adam watched him go with a sudden hit of panic pumping through his veins.

Christ, he was screwed.


	14. New Aiden and Nicknames

Marcy was holding hands with a very excited woman, who was no way containing her joy when Mac and Adam reached her.

Her blue eyes bounced with the woman as she smiled, "you know, you make my day when you jump around and squeal like that, Angelfish."

_Angelfish_ stopped, took a breathe and clapped her hands. "Oh, sweetie! Look at you in your little lab coat and I.D pass!"

Marcy tilted her head slightly, "I had both these things in D.C, what-"

The men reached them and the woman grinned wider, "Which one's Adam?"

He raised his hands cautiously and the woman-who he assumed was Angela, promptly nudged Marcy.

"Oh, he's cute."

"I told you he was cute, why don't you ever believe me?" the girl inquired as Angela began to subtly check the man out. "By the way, this is Detective Mac Taylor and of course you know of Adam."

Glancing at her face, Mac couldn't help but smirk at the blush that had come across Marcy's face as he shook Angela's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Angela Montenegro, pleasure." Marcy had always been amazed at Angela's ability to completely change her emotion on the drop of a hat.

There was a slight pause before Adam commented, "I thought they'd be more of you."

"Yeah, there is don't worry." She paused as Marcy slide her arm around him, and then continued with a slightly smile on her face, "the boys will be here to torment you soon enough."

"Angie! You said you'd have a talk with them!"

"I tried!" She defended, "but Booth's still all caught up on the Sully-Brennan thing, and we both know Hodgins and Zack have no lives-"

Marcy's dark eyes narrowed, "Hey!"

"Hey yourself, I love them but they're freaks."

"Yeah," the younger sighed, not catching the awkward glances between the men, "that's true."

"Well, in the mean time," Mac cut in, strangely bothered by the lack of attention he was receiving, "why doesn't Adam show you around the lab while Marcy assists Sid?"

Before Adam had a chance to respond, Angela linked arms with him.

"I'd love to!" she declared and pulled him away gently, "come on, lover boy, let's see why Marce likes ya so much."

He barely had time to look behind him to where Marcy waved, and Mac shook his head.

-

"And this is, um," Adam shrunk under the woman's gaze-not that it was malicious or angry; it didn't have the slightest hint of judgment or disappointment. It was actually very content, almost happy to be in the lab. "Um-"

"I'm sorry, I know, I'm staring, it's just…I've heard so much about you and, you're just so cute!" Angela's tone was abnormal, as if she was referring to a puppy instead of a man, and she must've took the indignant look on his face for something else, because she continued. "All good things, of course, like how you just started field work and how you tried to teach her to play X-box but failed, but she didn't feel bad about it."

"She said all that?" Adam smiled softly and Angela let out a squeal.

"And you have such a good aura!"

_How does she always find hippies? _He asked himself but smiled and thanked her none the less.

"She likes you a lot, and I was kind of surprised you're not an asshole."

His brows shot up, "what? I mean pardon?"

Angela grinned, "I've heard some stories from her brothers."

"Brothers?" He echoed.

"Yeah, you two haven't talked about your families yet?"

He cast his light blue eyes to the floor, "no."

And in all honesty he was dreading that conversation. If it was possible he'd have liked to avoid it until she was in D.C

Sensing his discomfort, Angela quickly changed the subject, "so, when do I get to meet Stellar Stella?"

-

"Oh god, I can't believe she took that out of the lab!" Stella moaned as she rubbed her temple.

Mac spared her a glance as he poured over a case file, "you seem surprised."  
"You're not?"

He shook his head, "not at all. It's a term of endearment; at least she's not calling you New Aiden like she is Lindsey."

"Yeah," Stella sighed, "she really isn't giving her a chance."

"Neither of them are." Mac reasoned, "Lindsey thinks she too young to function properly with emotional situations and Marcy is still upset about Aiden's departure."

"Not to mention she tried to contradict Adam." The woman smiled.

-

"_Maybe Adam made a mistake," Lindsey reasoned and Marcy was quick to get between her and Danny._

_Crossing her arms, she glared down at the little woman, "Adam doesn't make mistakes."_

"_Oh, please, everybody-"_

"_Check it again." _

_Lindsey's gaze hardened, "who do you think you are?"_

"_Just check it again. He's not wrong, you're just too proud to admit you over looked something."_

_Marcy turned on her heel and walked away, muttering a sentence that made Danny blush, "I'll never know what you see in her…"_

-

"Yeah, I heard about that." Mac nodded, "but she was right, Lindsey had overlooked something."

Stella shook her head, "she needs to stop with the nicknames. It can't be good for her."

"Why? She wants to identify the people she cares about with names like that so they'll remember her when she leaves. In case she doesn't come back."

Her hazel eyes met his, "you think she might not come back?"

"There's always the possibility. If she doesn't you know that you were important to her, at least enough for her to grant you special attention."

Stella shook her head, "she'll come back." She assured herself, "she has to."

Mac said nothing and the two went back to their cases.

-

"Oh god," Adam muttered and Angela nodded, "Yep, that's them."

Doctor Brennan and Agent Booth quickly made their way over to the waving Angela and nervous Adam.

"This him?" the man inquired, gazing down at the lab tech.

"Booth! That's incredibly rude!" Brennan shouted, then went on, quieter, "Besides if it wasn't him Angela wouldn't be so excited."

"Sweetie," Angela put her arm on Adam's shoulder, causing him to look down at her, but she was addressing the doctor, "Marcy's a little tied up so Mr. Ross offered to show me around-"

"Spend time with alotta other girls, Adam?" Booth inquired, his pose slightly menacing and rather stiff.

"Not really." He answered.

"Good." Booth grinned, and put his hand out to shake. Adam took it and was yanked closer.

"Booth-" the women shrieked.

"I just thought you should know, that if you ever decide to hurt, or insult or even annoy, our little Marcy, I will hunt you down and have my people put you somewhere you will never be found." He stared into his eyes, looking for a weakness that wasn't there. "Understood?"

Adam nodded, "yes, sir."

"Good." Booth smiled, and he threw his arm around the man. "Besides I already checked you out, seem like an okay guy."

"You ran him through the FBI database! Booth!" doctor Brennan smack his arm and he jerked away from Adam.

"Ow!"

"Adam this is Agent Seely Booth and doctor Temperance Brennan."

"Nice to meet you," the woman nodded civilly, "You're friends with Amarcia, right?"

"Um, yeah, I'm friends with Marcy." He chuckled inwardly, _Amarcia_.

"We would've been here sooner but Booth wouldn't let me drive-"

"Oh, shove it, Rain Man. Let's go pissed off Marcy's co-workers." He spared Adam a glance, "where can we find New Aiden?"

His brows furrowed, "I think Lindsey's in the break room."

"Good, show me where that is or I'll shoot you in the face, my friend."

Adam stared at him. "okay?"

"Okay!" Booth yelled, joyously and pulled him back into the lab.

"The break room's the other way."

"Okay!" He yelled, annoyed and pulled him back out of the lab.


	15. Kisses and Kiss offs

When the others arrived, Adam was back in the lab, his break being over; he agreed to meet them at the diner up the road after his shift. The group had now been joined by two new men, and of course Marcy was seated quite happily next to Stella, who had been forced along. Surprisingly, she was enjoying her self with what Booth had taken to calling, _the squints_.

"So, we're in this club right, you know, dancin', boozin', having a few laughs-" Angela grinned, "and Brennan gets herself in a fight because she won't stop using the word tribal-"

"It was the proper word for the back beats and instrumentals of the music!" the doctor huffed and Stella laughed and took a glance at Marcy who was desperately trying to fend off questions about Adam while at the same time eat her pie. And with all three men trying to distract her so one of the others could take some, it was no easy feat.

Their conversation was going like this;

"Is he nice?"

"Does he have car?"

"Where's he live?"

"Yes, no, I'm not telling. Stop touching that!"

"Is he good to his mom?"

"Where's he from?"

"Does he measure appropriately on the Body Mass Indicator scale?"

"Shut up! I like him burly! And get yer fuckin' hand off my plate; Booth or I'll fuckin' cut you!"

"Angry."

"Does he induce this kind of anger in you often?"

"Angela says anger is only fear turned inwards."

"Do you understand what we're trying to teach you here, Marcy?" That one had been Booth, and she shrieked "No!" as he tried to take some more of her dessert, but instead grabbed her hand.

Booth nodded to the other men, Jack Hodgins and Zack Addy, who promptly started their own conversation. "What we're trying to teach you is that men will say anything to get your pie."

Marcy stared at him. "Okay…"

He gripped her shoulders and shook her ever so slightly, "and you must not, under any circumstances, give them your pie. Do you understand?"

"I understand if you try to touch my plate again, Badger, I will fuck you up."

He smiled, assuming that she understood the metaphor(which she did not, until later when Angela sat down and explained it to both her and Brennan.), "Atta girl."

"Yeah, whatever."

-

"So," Stella turned her attention back to the doctor and her artistic friend, "what's D.C like?"

"It's nice, boring, clean, spacious, typical lab." Angela shrugged, but Brennan had a rather different response.

"It's far from the typical lab, Angela herself has contributed quite a bit to our scientific advancements-by the way," She turned her attention to Marcy, who was in the middle of an argument between Hodgins and Zack about what made the Flash so fast(one said speed, the other, time paradox). "You'll be receiving the small scale replica of the Angellater within the next week, as well as a few skulls that need to be reconstructed for the archeology wing."

Marcy nodded, solemnly, "yes, m'am."

Stella smiled sadly at the young woman that seemed like a lot of responsibility for someone her age. If she noticed, she made no sign of it and waved to Stella. "They're not trying to get you to change sides are they?"

"What?"

"Switch to FBI." Marcy explained, and Angela rolled her eyes.

"We only did that one time, and it was because he had a nice ass."

Just then a yelp came from the agent and the group turned toward him. "Sorry, forgot my phone was on vibrate."

The group laughed and Adam wandered into the diner, shivering, and they quickly waved him over. He took a seat between Hodgins and Brennan and Marcy made the quick introductions.

"Hodgepodge, Z-Man, this is Beaker." She chirped and all the men blushed.

"Hi." He waved and the men-children gave him weary looks in return before looking at Booth for approval. They received a sharp nod and they quickly greeted him with enthusiasm.

"How old are you?" Zack inquired.

"Twenty six-"

"hmm." The men exchanged glances and the lab tech took a quick look at Marcy, who winked in reply as the women began talking about fashion.

"And you're hanging out with a twenty two year old?" Hodgins asked.

"You got caught doin' it to a nineteen year old last Christmas, so I don't think it's that big-a deal, Jack." Marcy's eyes narrowed slightly at the man and nudged Adam's foot, or what she thought was Adam's foot with her own.

"Are you kicking me?"

She shook her head at her boss, "No, Bones, it was an accident."

"Don't play footsies with the boy when we're trying to intimidate him!" The man snapped and Marcy grinned.

"I'll do as I like, Doctor Hodgins."

"What's _footsies_?" Zack, once again, inquired and Hodgins began explaining it to him as Marcy leaned across the table.

"Don't order pie." She whispered, and Adam leaned over as well, talking in hushed tones.

"Why not?"

"Because the guys are being really weird about it and it might cause a confrontation which made led to physical violence. I don't pick sides but they will beat you." She paused, "like, in the face."

He nodded, and whispered, "Okay." Before sitting back up. They grinned at each other and Brennan watched the exchange carefully.

-

An hour and a half later, Brennan and Marcy were waiting outside for their cabs, whilst the rest (with the exception of Booth and Adam) had gone back to the hotel.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, Amarcia."

Marcy sighed, frustrated, "I know."

"You have to be able to keep people at arms length if you want to do your job objectively." Bones looked at her, touching her shoulder gently, "you need to start putting your heart in a box, or else it will affect everything you do."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." The girl chuckled darkly.

"It can be." She reasoned, "You get too attached too quickly, make rash decisions about people too easily. Besides have you really thought of the reparations of your actions?"

Neither of the women noticed the men behind them, eavesdropping.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that not everyone is going to be so accepting of your choices."

Marcy shook her head, hugging her coat closer, "still not following."

The doctor sighed, "You like Adam right?"

"'Course."

"Well," Marcy cast her a glance as she continued, "what if he wants a more serious relationship? Long term?"

She hadn't thought of that. He didn't seem like the non-commitment type, when she thought about it. Sensing that the words were sinking in, Temperance continued.

"And you're not going to be comfortable with your job if you don't stop forming emotional ties to everyone. It's hard leaving people behind, when you care about them as much as you do." Her voice trailed slightly, "I just think you should start trying to distance yourself, if not for you then those around you."

-

Adam, although he should of felt bad because he was listening in on a private conversation, was upset for another reason. Not that they were talking about him, or that the doctor was trying to persuade her to back off, but because of how right she sounded. Maybe it was the three cups of coffee he had, but his head was buzzing, and he knew that his work was also being affected by their _relationship_, if you could call it that.

Booth, sensing his discomfort(the whole group seemed to be peculiarly good at that, with the exception of Dr Brennan and Zack), cleared his throat to alert them of their presence.

"Hey." Marcy waved half heartedly as a cab pulled up. Nodding to it, she said go ahead and bid them goodbye.

Once they had left, she looked at his disenchanted features. "You heard, huh?"

He looked away from her slightly saddened eyes, "Maybe-maybe she's right. I mean, not that I don't," he stumbled over his words but she made no attempt to help him. "I just don't wanna start something you can't finish."

She wanted to protest, shake her head, and tell him that wasn't fair. But she knew that would've been selfish, and that he was right. So, as the cab pulled up, she nodded, let out a quiet, _okay_, and kissed him one last time.

A soft, lingering, sad kiss, before she stepped into the cab.

"Goodnight, Adam." Marcy whispered, and as it drove off, he felt a kind of loneliness he hadn't experienced since he left Phoenix. Sighing, he hailed another cab and went back to his empty apartment. As he stepped into the cold living room, he couldn't help but wonder why he had to drive away the first person to care about him since he'd arrived in New York.

Author's Note: aw…don't worry, there are still quite a few chapters to this story before...dun dun dun…squeal! Yes, I have been convinced to write a second(mini series) and then third(full story) about Adam and Marcy. Yay for you. Message me with feedback or things you would like to see, but it has been mapped out so…I may not be able to fit in all for reading!


	16. Mac's a Prick

Marcy was unsure what to do. Four days had past and she was slowly drifting from the team. No one seemed to notice, with the exception of Mac, as Stella had a new boyfriend, and Danny was caught up with Lindsey. She wasn't doing it on purpose, the Angellater had arrived earlier then expected and she had set up shop in the morgue. Mainly because there was more space and less people, but her choice had been greatly influenced by Adam.

Not that he was being hostile or anything, in fact quite the opposite. Because in order to be hostile you have to actually acknowledge the person's existence, which was something he had no intention of doing.

Meanwhile, he was moping up in his lab while she was sulking down in the basement.

Slowly but surely, the woman came to the conclusion that maybe Adam didn't want a relationship in the first place. He was leading her on.

_Prick_, she thought as she continued to set up her new machine.

"Stop avoiding Adam." Mac's voice caused her to turn, "he's sensitive."

"I know." She rolled her eyes as he, too, crouched down to the floor. "That's why I like him, which is why I'm avoiding him."

"Hmm. Anyways, you're bones are upstairs but I'm forbidding you to bring them down here."

"What? Why?"

Mac sighed, "Because I'm sick of the rift between you and Adam, grow up, and talk this out like mature adults."

"But I don't wanna." Marcy whined, but, unlike Adam, didn't falter when he glared at her, "Seriously, what's the big deal?"

"It's affecting his work ethics, and when it affects his work, it affects me."

"Aw," she cooed, "you care about his feelings."

"No I don't." The ex-marine glared.

"Yes you do."

"Just go do your reconstruction."

She saluted him, "yes, sir."

-

Adam kept his eyes down as she skipped across to her old section of the lab. Why was she so happy? Glad to be rid of him? Had she gotten over him already? Maybe she had someone new? All these swirling thoughts caused his chest to tighten, and his head to spin.

"Adam," he looked up find Mac giving him a condescending stare, "help Marcy with her boxes, will ya?"

"I would but-"

"Just do it." The man snapped and Adam glared at his retreating form.

_Prick_, he thought, but got up form his chair none the less.

"Hey." He muttered and she pun on her heel to face him, her dark eyes never once betraying her apprehensive mood as she chirped happily at him. "Hi, Adam!"

His brows rose as he followed her deeper into her section. "Mac said you might need some help with the boxes?"

"'Kay, come on than, sugar." Marcy jerked her head over to the corner where perhaps six plastic containers lay. Lifting them up, they were quite light, and the two of them were able to carry them over in only two trips.

"Thanks," she grinned as he set the last one down. She took the lid off another and Adam noticed how carefully she handled the occupants of the box. Every motion was precise and slow as she shifted to lay out the contents piece for piece across the sterile table.

"What is that?" he asked, and Marcy looked at him.

"People." He winced and she went on, "mostly from the crusades, and the dark period in general. Burn and torture victims mostly."

"Wow, that's-that's really morbid, Marce." Adam blushed at his little slip up as she paid it no mind. He peered over her shoulder into the box, "there's a lot of pieces in there."

She sighed, "I know, and there's a good chance that they won't be from the same victim and I'll have to start laying all the boxes out on, like, three different tables pushed together."

"That happen often?" he asked.

She looked up at him from her chair and nodded. "More often then not."

"Well," Adam began to feel his anxiety rise up in his throat and he began to retreat form the room, "good luck with that."

"Thanks."

-

Several hours later, both were still diligently at work.

Marcy had completed most of one skull, and started three others. As promised, all six of the boxes scattered around the room. She had also completed a femur(left), and finished off two jumbo packets of Skittles.

Her eyes fluttered closed as she rested her face in her hands, trying not to look in his direction. It was fairing alright, as she barely had the focus to look at anything directly in front of her. Her blue eyes fluttered closed again, and her body slumped onto the desk.

Behind her, Adam took his bi-hourly glance at her. Well, maybe bi-half an hourly, but still. He noticed that her space had spanned out quite a bit, and her ponytail was hanging limply behind her.

He made his way over to her and put the cup of coffee, a peace offering, in front of her sleeping form. Adam gave her one last look, pushed back a piece of her bangs and planted a soft kiss on her temple.

"Goodnight, Marcy." He whispered, and left the lab, just as the woman opened her eyes.

*okay, it was a filler chapter, the next will be better, I hope.


	17. Damn okay, well, let's try friendship

Two hours later, on her way out of the building, Marcy made a shocking discovery and quickly hailed a cab to Adam's house.

-

Adam was jerked out of his slumber by quick consistent knocking. He slowly pulled himself off the couch, neck stiff and body weary, as he made his way toward the sound.

Without looking through the peep hole he opened the door, and was quickly brought back to reality by her happy squeal.

"Is snowing!" Marcy grinned, and ducted under his arm and into his apartment.

"What?" He groaned, rubbing his face a moment, before he realized that she's staring. "What?"

Marcy flushed and allowed herself one last time to check him out, "Get some clothes on, let's go."

Adam looked down, and realizing he was only in his boxers, crossed his arms. "Go where?"

"Didn't you hear me, Beak? It's _snowing_.' She smiled and tossed a shirt at him, before finding another one on the floor next to it, "Can I have this?" She asked holding it up.

"What? Why?"

"Because you promised." She shrugged.

"I never said I'd give you a shirt." He shook his head as he pulled on the one she'd given him.

"Please."

Adam sighed, "fine-" she made that _squee_ noise again, before pulling off her coat and pulling it on over top her other t-shirt. He went on, "But what're you doing here?"

She gave him a small smile, "you said you'd go for a walk with me when it started snowing, remember?"

"I don't remember agreeing to it," He sighed.

"Come on, please, Adam, and don't give me that look."

He continued to look indignant, "I thought we were gonna be friends?"

"We are friends, now, go get on some pants so we can go." Marcy smiled, but his expression remained stony. "Come on, you're the only person I know who can appreciate this."

"What'd you mean?" His expression softened slightly.

"Everyone here sees snow all the time; I've never seen it before." She blushed lightly as he smiled.

"You've never seen snow before?" She shook her head. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Well, you're from Arizona, when was the first time you saw snow?" Marcy asked, and he shrugged, "I don't know, a couple years ago."

"Some how I sense you're not as excited as I am, Ross." She sighed, and pulled her coat back on.

"Where you goin'?" he watched her head for the door.

Turning to face him, the woman responded, "I'm going for a walk, have a nice night, Adam."

She left the apartment and he quickly pulled some pants on. No way in hell she was going to wonder around New York by herself. She was half way down the first flight of stairs when he reached her.

"Hold it, Allerdyce!" His holler did stop her for a moment, but she promptly shook her head and continued to walk.

No way in hell she was putting up with his mood swings. Weird, to nice, to annoyed, to angry, to nice, to rude to-bah fuck it. She decided to stop, moments too late as Adam's body collided with hers and they almost toppled downward.

A yelp left her lips as she clung to Adam. "What the hell?!"

"Sorry." He held her a moment longer then needed, and she pulled away.

"Why the change of heart?"

The man stared down at her, before shifting his gaze to the zipper of his jacket, "if the guys found out I let you walk around alone at night they'd kill me."

He glanced up at Marcy, who didn't say anything a moment. It was her normal, sweet gaze, it was one he hadn't seen before. Her dark eyes were colder then the drafty hallway and she shook her head.

"No thanks, I think I'll go call Danny."

Adam grabbed her arm as she went to walk away, "I'm sorry, alright, I just don't get it."

"Get what, Adam?" She sighed in exuberance and shook her head, dark tresses falling out of her bun. "I'm not out to screw you but you said yourself you wanted to be friends, and now you avoid me like the friggin' plague!"  
Part of him wanted to laugh, her accent thickening with every word, but that thought died the minute he noticed the wet sheen in her eyes. "I know, but I can't just switch teams like that!"

Marcy sighed and shook her head, before letting out a sarcastic laugh, "this was your idea, and you were right, it probably is for the best, but Christ, Adam, I don't want to cut you out of my life!" she smiled lightly, before bending her knees and rocking up and down (most likely from the cold), "I've kinda gotten used to having you around, doll."

"Yeah," Adam smiled softly down at her, well, more accurately at her little dance, "me too."

"I'm glad because unrequited friendship sucks, dude."

He smiled, "okay, but we gotta lay down some ground rules."

She saluted him, "check."

He grinned, "Uh, okay, how about, no unexpected trips in the middle of the night?"

"You know you secretly love them." She smirked, but nodded none the less, "okay, no wearing aftershave. It's very distracting."

"Well, then you're not allowed to wear that perfume that smells like candy." He crossed his arms.

Marcy bit her lip, "but I love that perfume."

"It's only fair, babe."

She sighed, "Fine. But you can't wear those jeans that make you butt look good."

"Then you can't wear low cut tops. _Or_ those black boots."

"Fuck you, I'm keepin' the boots." The pair laughed and she linked arms with him as they made their way out of the building. Shivering against the cold they huddled together for warmth and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that there would always be more to this than what they were allowing.

*A/N: good news, trailer on its way!


	18. The Mating Game

*does Adam seem a little OFC in the middle of this chapter or is it just me? Sorry.

Adam sipped his hot chocolate as Marcy took a bite of her cookie, "How'd your reconstruction go?"

"Meh. It went." She passed him one of her treats, as she spun on her stool. "I'm so glad I have the keys to this place, Eureka trusts me too much."

He glanced around the empty cereal shop, "yeah, why is that?"

"'Cause he's like, my brother's second-cousin."

Grinning he asked, "What?"

"Well," she shrugged, "that's what they call each other."

"Wh-"

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM I WANT YOU IN MY ROOM

The pair jumped at Marcy's ring tone, and she quickly flipped it open. "Hey, Fitz, what's up babe?"

"Hey, Marce." The young woman sighed.

Adam watched as her brows knitted as she spoke, "everything okay?"

"No, Blair is totally blowing me off because Vanessa's parents said it's their year."

Their older brother, Blair, typically took Ella over the holidays, to give their parents some personal space. They all knew Vanessa's parents were renowned assholes, but the Allerdyces loved Vanessa all the same.

"So you have the Christmas woes, I take it?" Marcy spun on her stool and shot Adam an apologetic look.

"Yeah…"

Marcy grinned, "Well, why don't you spend it with me then? I've got a week off; you've got a week off. I'll ship ya over, my treat."

"Really?!" Even Adam heard the happy squeal emit from the phone, and drew the conclusion that the girl must be related to her, as Marcy was the only human that he'd ever met that made that noise.

"Yeah, go ask Ma," Marcy kicked Adam as he tried to mooch another cookie off her, "Get yer own!"

"But they're right there-"

"Get!"

-"What?" Ella asked and Marcy shook her head, "not you!"

Commencing the foot-fight with him, she went on, "what'd mom say?"

"Said she doesn't give a fuck as long as I'm outta the house, and quite frankly I agree."

"I hear that." She nodded and slapped Adam as he grabbed her foot, "Let go!"

"I mean, I love them and everything, but they are too old to go at it like that."

Adam yanked her foot and she almost toppled off the chair, "I said, let go!"

"Are you being mugged?" the younger woman asked.

"No, just annoyed, _Beaker_!" She shrieked as he pulled her shoe off. "You fuckass, give it back!"

"Is that Adam?"

"Yeah," she pulled the shoe; at least he had the decency not to _talk_ to her when she was on the phone.

"Will I get to meet him?"

"No?"

"Why not?" Ella and Adam chorused.

"Because I'm ashamed of you." She answered.

"Who?" they asked.

She nodded soundly, "both of you."

He chuckled and took a bite of her cookie. "_Ru__**d**__e_."

"Ya well, shut up Adam."

"Nice come back, Sparky." Marcy rolled her eyes at the childhood nickname that would haunt her forever.

"When ya comin' down?"

"I dunno, whenever ya send me the ticket." Ella answered.

Marcy glanced at her watch, "I'll call ya later, 'kay?"

"Alright, love ya."

"Love ya."

They hung up and Marcy gave Adam a sharp, loud smack in the leg.

"Hey!"

The woman giggled and snatched the cookie back. "Hey, yourself, Ross."

He tilted his head to the side as she spun quietly on the stool. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Who was that?!" He cried, much like an overly enthusiastic child.

"Oh, no." She shook her head.

Adam cocked an eyebrow and made to grab her foot again. "No _what_?" he taunted as she pulled herself away from him.

"You don't get to be all…invading of my privacy after you tried to yank me off a bar stool."

"That was one time!" He grinned and noting the smile tugging at her lips, knew he had won.

"It was my little sister, Ella." Marcy ran a hand through her dark strands and nudged him with her foot. "She's coming down for Christmas."

"Really," he teased sarcastically, "I never would've guessed."  
Her grin widened as she scotched her stool closer to his. "She's gonna make your life a living hell."

"What? Why me?" His blue eyes widened and Marcy cleared her throat, ignoring the fluttering butterflies in her stomach as she answered.

"Because I may have mentioned you, once or twice, and she'll come down all 'lets-hook-Marcy-up-with-a-total-stranger-because-she-mentioned-him-once-or-twice' like she always does." She huffed, taking a deep breathe.

"Wow." The man commented, mildly impressed with her lung capacity. Of course this got him thinking of her lungs and his eyes drifted downward toward her chest as she huffed. He was male, Marcy knew this, and was in no way offended when she noticed where his eyes strayed.

They sat quietly a moment, and before they knew it, Marcy was touching his beard again.

"What is it with you and this thing?" He rubbed his scruff and she chuckled, biting her lip as she smiled.

"You're just so pretty!" She cooed.

"Pretty?" He repeated meekly.

She nodded happily, "you have very symmetrical features which alludes to the prospect of you being a good mate."

"Ex-excuse me?" He was blushing now, or at least harder.

"A-symmetrical features, width between the eyes-" She indicated with her fingers as she noted them, "cheek bones, jaw line. Very nice."

He smiled at her, and brushed the back of his fingers against her face. "I think you're pretty too, Marce."

She blushed, and he noticed that her dark blue eyes seemed to shine when she did. High cheek bones, pale lips.

He wasn't the only one who would make a good mate, he thought absent mindedly as she rested her warm face against his cool palm.


	19. In His DriveWay?

Ella, an unusually upbeat and energetic girl, was perched(literally, on her hunches) on top of Marcy's desk. This was her first time in New York, and was eagerly awaiting her older sister's arrival.

Marcy was in the morgue, picking up a case file, leaving everyone in the lab defenseless to her little sister's questions.

Resting her head on her knee, she gazed at Stella through her sunglasses.

"So, you like working with dead bodies?"

"I like justice."

"I like ice cream but I'd never work in a creamery." Ella quipped and Stella chuckled. She went on, "I bet it's hard to work somewhere like this, where your faith is constantly questioned…at least that's what Marcy said once."

The older woman nodded, "it can be, but on the reversal, it's always good to see faith restored."

"I bet it is." Ella grinned and scotched closer, "which one is Adam?"

"Why?" Stella smirked coyly as the young woman clapped her hands excitedly.

"'cause I hear he's cute!"

The similarities between the siblings were almost disturbing, she noted. The main one being their fascination with the Ross boy. But that was sweet, in a way. The others were their features; although Ella was slighter, smaller, and a good half a head shorter, it was evident that they were related. Same bone structure, same dark hair, hell, their voices were even similar. Not to mention the smile, that alone gave away the relationship between the New Zealanders.

Stella grinned, "He should be in, in a couple minutes."

The girl let out a familiar _squee_ and Stella laughed, just as Marcy rounded the corner with Mac.

"Come on, sir, she'll only be here a few minutes."

Mac looked sternly down at her as she clasped her hands together in the prayer motion, "please, Mac Attack?"

His gaze shifted to the other Allerdyce who was mimicking her sister's hand action.

"Fine."

Marcy shrieked and threw her arms around the man. "Thank you!"

Detective Taylor sighed and patted the woman on the back. "Your welcome. Do you have those results for me?"

"Yup!" Marcy chirped and handed him the reports as Ella sauntered over to them.

"Sup, boss man?"

Mac spared her a glance, "you must be Ella."

"Yup-yup." The girl nodded, and Marcy made a quick introduction.

"Nice to meet you," the man nodded and looked behind her to Stella who was trying to force Adam in their direction. "Are you in town for long?"

"Just a week." Ella shrugged.

"Trust me, one week in New York is as much as some can stand."

The girl smirked and Marcy nudged her. "Shut it, Fitz."

"I didn't say nothin'." They watched the man walk away and the older sister glared down at her.

"You said it with your eyes."

The two giggled as Stella finally shoved Adam into Marcy's back.

"Look who I found!" She chirped as the man reddened and the girls cocked their brows. Simultaneously. Ella pulled off her glasses, smirking as her sister grinned.

"Beaker!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to the girl. "Fitzy, Beaker, Beaker, Fitzy."

Fitzy mirrored her smile and put her hand out. "Nice to meet you, Adam."

He chuckled nervously, boarder lining creepily, and shook her hand. "You too, Marcy's um, sister?"

"Ella," she corrected, "Ellaiden, actually."

Adam glanced at Marcy who shrugged, smiling sheepishly at him. "Our mom's a hippie."

"Oh," he nodded and stood awkwardly for a moment before looking for Stella who had retreated silently. That bitch. "Good flight?"

"The Stewart was hot, but otherwise no."

"I thought you were with…whatshisface?"

"Nah," the youngest shook her head as Adam continued to look for an escape route, "me and Jacob broke up. Now I'm with Jake."

"Jesse's little brother?" Adam glanced down at Marcy's shell-shocked features.

"Is that bad?"

She looked up at him, "No, he's just a little snitch is all."

"He's was ten and you were-"

"Not now, Elle." Marcy glared at her, and the man was now intrigued.

"-having sex in his drive way." The teen finished and her sister kicked her. "Hey!"

The man looked down at his…friend's flushed face. "In his drive way?"

"I was eighteen!" She shrieked and the pair laughed at her. This week would be hell.

TRAILER UP:

.com/watch?v=XfDOrzufxRI


	20. Cabbage Patch

A/N: Sorry the trailer link didn't work as planned. I'll try and fix it, but you can just go to Youtube and type in after hours fanfic trailer. I think it's the only thing that comes up.

"Pizza?"

"No."

"Chinese?"

"Nah."

"Left over's?"

"We had that last year."

Adam looked up at the girls, who were sitting on the counter of Puffs. Ella spouting off ideas for their Christmas dinner and Marcy shooting them down as she engaged him in an epic battle of hang man.

"You guys had left over's as a formal dinner?"

The girls exchanged looks before bursting into laughter.

"He think-thinks-" Ella bent over as Marcy buried her face in her hands, shoulders bouncing rhythmically with her giggling.

"What'd I say?" Adam asked, a small grin tugging at his lips as Ella brushed away some tears and Marcy sent a flushed smile in his direction.

Rubbing her face, Ella commented, "My cheeks hurt."

"We don't really do formal at our house." Marcy answered. "I mean one year, the boys went off and did their thing-"

"Dad took 'em to a strip joint up in Australia." Ella injected.

"-and we ended up eating cold French fries and chocolate milk on the kitchen floor."

Ella caught his confused stare first and quickly explained, "Fuse blew and none of us knew how to fix it."

"None of?" he inquired as Ella looked at Marcy.

"How many siblings do we have, Adam?"

"Um," He spared Marcy a glance as she glared at her little sister, "um, two?"

A sharp –whap!- went through the air and Marcy gripped her shoulder. "Ow! You were one of the two!"

Ella glowered at her, "are you ashamed of us?"

"I am a little of Nikki."

Ella stared at her a moment before nodding, "yeah me, too."

Adam looked between the two, "so I'm guessing there's more than?"

"Yeah, mom popped out five of us." The teenager smirked and pushed up her sun glasses, "I brought some home movies if ya want."

"Nikki?"

She nodded to her sister, "Nikki."

"Is that your other sister?" The man asked, suddenly out of the loop.

"No," Marcy shook her head, "Kira's our older sister, Nikki's my little brother."

"Nikolas." The younger woman explained, if you can call a fifteen year old a woman.

Adam watched as Marcy redirected her attention to the game, "And your other sibling?"

"Blair, he's older." She looked at the girl next to her, who was now making a cootie catcher. "Make me one'a those too, 'kay, Fitz?"

Fitz nodded and Adam returned to the game. "Is there a G?"

"Nope. One letter left, Beak."

"Is there a Y?"

"No…" Marcy dropped his gaze and tried not to grin.

"There's a Y isn't there?"

"Yes…"

Adam smiled, "then what is it?"

"P-U-P-P-Y."

"Puppy." Ella looked up at her, "how the hell did either of you get to college, sexual favors?"

Marcy shoved her and Adam shook his head, "Nah, bribery."

The girl waved her folded paper at him, "smart man."

"Indeed he is," Marcy smiled and watched the man's face flush. She turned her attention back to her sibling and smile switched its tone to an apologetic one, "I'm sorry the snow melted before you got here."

"No biggie," Ella shrugged, "I'm here all week."

"It's supposed to snow tomorrow." Their gazes directed back at Adam who suddenly found his ring very interesting. Fiddling with it, he shrugged, "at least that's what the news said."

"Sweet!" Ella pumped her fist into the air and the siblings high fived.

_Where the hell are the other employees?_ He thought to himself as the two began doing the cabbage patch behind the counter. Oh, this was gonna be fun.


	21. Unicorns

Chapter 21

NOTE there is about ten to fifteen chapters left. Thought you should know.

When it did finally snow, Adam was enjoying the only moment's peace he'd had in days. Stretched out on his couch he flipped through the channels, paying them only half his attention.

The other half, was focused on News Years Eve. Yes, it was still over a week away, but having been lured into going out for a night on the town with Stella and Stella's new nameless flame, well, it unnerved him. Some how he'd been persuaded into it by big blue eyes and pleading stare.

Marcy.

"_Please Beak, I'll make this as painless as possible I swear."_

_He hesitated, "I don't know Marce, I mean-"_

"_I know you've probably got plans but you don't have to stick around or anything! I mean, I ain't planning to."_

"_You-you're not?"_ Damn it, why had he blushed?!

_She shook her head as her sister fiddled on his laptop behind them. "No, I mean, I hear the square is kick ass and everything, but, I don't know, I party with friends not countless strangers!"_

_He eyed her wearily as her blue eyes set on him, "please Adam?"_

And she had him. Hook, line and-he jumped as a harsh knock sounded on his door. He cocked a brow as he made his way to the peephole, glancing through it, he quickly jerked the door open.

"How'd you find out where I live?!"

"Hiya, Adikins." Ella grinned, side stepping her way into his apartment. Why did the Allerdyces think it was okay to do that?! Referring both to the bizarre pet names and uninvited enterings of his home.

He blinked at her a moment, "seriously, how'd you even get here?"

"Cab," she shrugged pulling something from her pocket, "I swiped this from you earlier. I was kind of surprised you didn't notice." Tossing it to him nonchalantly she looked around the apartment. "Nice digs, dude."

"You stole my wallet?!" Adam shrieked.

"Borrowed, when you return something, its borrowing."

"Still, does Marcy know you're here?"

Ella chuckled nervously, "not exactly, but I couldn't tell her I mean, this was something I wanted to tell you one on one."

"Okay…" He shuffled uneasily as she spoke.

"It's totally a date, dude, I mean, I know you guys are trying the whole _friends_ thing, but come on. It's never gonna work." Ella also had the particular talent of saying everything in one breathe. "'cause she's totally into you, and you know you feel the same. I can tell cause you're less twitchy around her…kind of, I mean, you still are, and she likes that, but its not the normal, ya know, fear twitchy."

"She likes my twitches?" He blushed, smiling slightly as she continued to inspect the room.

"Uh-huh, thinks they're cute, and that's a big thing, 'cause she doesn't use that word often."

He glanced at his watch, "we should get you home I mean-"

"At least think about what I said, okay, I mean, green flags or whatever."

"You mean green light?"

"Yeah!" She smiled, "totally, go for it, but right now you should get me home."

-

Marcy swung the door open as her sister went to enter. "You told me you were going to the store for milk!"

"I made a detour." Ella shrugged, ushering Adam in.

Marcy glared at her, "you didn't even get any milk, Fitz."

Ella smiled, "I have to go apply my eye liner. Excuse me."

She ducted out of the room as Adam took in the scenery. He'd never actually been in Marcy's apartment before. It was small, warm, and well, very Marcy. The walls were littered with pictures and doodles, quite a few drawn by a child, many of which seemed to contain unicorns. He smiled to himself as he inspected them closer. Crayon, definitely a kid's drawing.

"So, who's the artist?"

"Cara, she's my neighbor." Marcy smiled and indicated to a picture just to his right, "she'll be seven in June. She's going through a unicorn faze, I don't know why."

Adam continued to look over the pictures and paused when he came to one with the sisters. Marcy's arm swung over much younger Ella's shoulders, both rather dirty, but grinning broadly none the less. He smiled and kept going, noting the fact that Marcy was watching him, not even bothering to hide her stare.

Adam stopped when he got to a family photo. It wasn't professionally done. None of them seemed to care, the Ella and Marcy were sitting on the floor, Marcy biting her nails reading a book, whilst Ella seemed to be bickering god naturedly with a boy above her. He was very thin, and must have been quite tall as his legs stretched well past the sisters. But he too was grinning, but there was that hint of a smirk that lead Adam to believe it was an argument. Next to him was an older man, mid forties, dark hair, devious smirk as he whispered into what he supposed was Marcy's mother's ear. The girls seemed to take after him more then their mother. With his dark hair, and dancing blue eyes. The mother had Marcy's high cheek bones and pale skin and was speaking to another girl. This one didn't look quite so happy to be there, glaring into the camera. But she shared a lot of the other girls features, except the hair, she had blonde hair. The last person was a boy, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to any thing, looking somewhere off camera and smiling bemusedly. He too was pale, with dark hair, but his startling eyes were evident through the camera.

"Nice family." Adam commented, continuing to stare at the picture as Marcy leaned against the wall beside him.

"Thanks," Marcy pointed, to the blonde, "that's Kira, I don't see her much. That's Blair," she pointed to the boy at the end of the couch, "and that's Nikki, he's taller then he looks you know, six foot six. And like, ninety pounds." She chuckled.

"You must really miss them." Adam didn't look at her right away.

"I do. My mom is a total hippie, so's my dad, but you know, they're mine. "When I was nine he told me that Santa was really a slave driver who forced the elves to work in his sweatshop for less then minimum wage. Then my mom called him a liar and said Santa didn't pay them at all…So, what does your family usually do for the holidays?"

Ella could be heard singing the Killers from the bathroom, and Adam glanced in her direction as he answered, "you know, typical stuff."

"No, I really don't." Her eyes softened. "You don't really talk about it.

"You're family that is," she added, "why is that, sweetheart?"  
Marcy placed a hand on his arm as he lowered his gaze to the floor.

"Don't," He pulled back from her. Rubbing the back of his neck, he smiled sheepishly at her as Ella reemerged from the bathroom.

"Whaddup?!" She chuckled, "god I love saying that. Thank you, for that gem by the way."

The young woman's blue eyes darted between the two, "everything alright?"

"Yeah," Marcy licked her lip, "fine, Fitz."

Sensing the tension, the girl was quick to change the subject. "So, headin' back to Arizona for Christmas, Ross?"

"Nah," Adam shook his head and tore his eyes from Marcy's questioning stare.

"So no plans then?" Ella pressed.

"Nope."

She grinned, "then you should spend it with us!"

"What?!" The lab rats chorused.

"Well," the teen tittered on one foot, "I mean, he's not doing anything and we're just heading to Puffs anyway."

Marcy grinned, "Good point. Whaddya say, Beak? Wanna spend Christmas with the Allerdyce clan?"


	22. Adam's Mom and Marcy's Surroget Mother

Inwardly he was screaming _say no, just say no it's not worth it! It will bite you in the ass, Adam! Adam I said no!_

"Sure." He grinned nervously, but it was washed away when the girls grinned whole heartedly at him.

Ella shook her head, "don't worry about presents or anything, we're not really the giving type." She paused, her brow crinkling, "personally I think they're just cheap, but mom says-"

"Just don't bother with it," Marcy smiled shoving her sister lightly. "But I would brace yourself for a trip, love."

"Will do." He replied earnestly, making his way toward the door. Adam rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I'll see you tomorrow or something, then?"

"Yup yup." Ella beamed, pushing her sister towards him. "Walk our guest to the door, Sparks."

"What do you mean _our_ guest, technically you're a guest. Get your scrawny ass in the kitchen and do up them dishes before I call mom." Marcy smacked her behind and gently steered her towards the room in question.

Adam made to speak, but Marcy held up a finger. Then a second then a third, "Quit eavesdropping, Fitz!"

"I was not!" The girl shrieked indignantly, "I mean, what?"

Marcy smiled, "teenagers, ya know?"

"Yeah-no not really." Adam nodded, his expression slightly tense but not unhappy. "Should I bring anything tomorrow, I mean-'

"Nah," she smiled up at him through the door way, "we'll probably just watch Christmas specials and eat stale cereal…not that Puffs would ever sell the stale stuff Eric just keeps it around because-what?"

He didn't say anything, just stared at her a moment. She was completely in her element. Hair down, and slightly in her face, he took in her puzzled, yet bemused expression. Adam reached up, but decided against it and lightly patted her shoulder.

"_Damnit_!" They turned to spot the girl ducting back into the kitchen.

Marcy sighed, blushing and biting her lip slightly, "oh, god, I wish I were an only child."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," She tilted her head in exasperation, "honest."

She squinted coyly at him, "you lyin'! And the day before the day before the supposed birth of your Christian lord!"

Adam blinked at her, "what?"

"I'm sorry," Marcy shook her head, trying to clear it, "I've been around my family too much lately."

"Ah." He nodded.

"Kiss her!" Ella hissed, unaware that a) the walls were thin enough that they could hear her, again and b) Marcy was plotting her murder for saying such things.

"Bye, Ella!" The man called into the hall, and received a quick, "See ya, Adikins!" in reply.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Marce." He smiled down at her and gave her a light peck on the forehead. "Don't kill her, she's young."

"Hmm." Marcy smirked, "I'll think about it. See ya tomorrow, Beaker."

-

As Marcy clipped through the newspaper, Ella grilled her on her relationship with the Ross boy…man…man-child.

"But you could at least give it a shot, I mean; he's pretty cute, if you like that nerdy, sweet, boy next door type."

Marcy rolled her eyes and her scissors in her fingers, "I believe that is what is known as a back handed compliment, Elle. And I told you, rationally speaking he is correct. It is illogical to start a relat-"

"Fuck logic, Marce!" Ella huffed, shaking her head sadly, "for once in your life, just say it, _fuck_ _logic_."

"It is impossible to speak to an invisible state of reasoning, Ellaiden. Not to mention it could be considered a trait of that of a boarder lining schizophrenic."

Ella stared at her. Marcy stared back.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What? It is!" Marcy defended, dejectedly.

The girl sighed, leafing through a separate magazine, "if you don't like him why'd you get him a present?"

"One," Marcy held up a finger, staring at her in annoyance, "stay out of my closet. That is _my_ space."

"Sorry." Ella smiled.

"No your not, don't lie on top of it." She held up a second finger, "two, they were very cheap and I don't count them as presents."  
Ella's gaze hardened, "how come he gets a present and I don't?"

"You do," Marcy assured her, "I just hid it high up so you can't find it."

She opened her mouth and the elder answered quickly, "No you are not allowed to unscrew all the light fixtures looking for it."

"Damnit." Ella muttered. "Here, these are pet and baby food."

Marcy took the paper and nodded her thanks.

-

"A girl?"

Adam rubbed his neck, "yeah, mom."

"You're going out on Christmas eve, with a girl?" His mother questioned, apparently still in shock.

"Yes. With a girl and her sister."

There was a slight pause, "and you say you're not seeing this Marcy girl?"

"No." He shook his head and prayed she couldn't sense his blush over the line.

"Well, why not?"

It was Adam's turn to pause now. Why not? "Well, we're just, not."

The rest of the conversation consisted of his mother sending his father's love, _yeah right_ he snorted, and Adam wishing _them_ a merry Christmas. But that question would haunt him the rest of the night.

Why not?

-

"Because I said so."

"That's a stupid reason!"

"You're stupid!"

"You're stupid!"

Ella rubbed her temples. "I hate them. I hate them so much."

Marcy glanced at the boys, both well into their teens, fighting over which kind of cereal was better; Frosted Flakes or Coco Puffs. She smiled and turned to look at the elderly woman in front of her, "You didn't happen to drink when you were pregnant, did you Ms Doen?"

The woman smirked, "Maybe. Not my fault the little bastards haven't out grown their idiocy, Marcy, you should know that by now."

"Hmm." She nodded, watching Ella take her seat between the twins, "I don't think one is ever expected to adjust to such outlandish behavior."

Marcy looked at Ms Doen, "Outlandish, but nice, I assure you."

"Yeah, yeah. So Ella tells me you're bringing a fella in tonight?"

Marcy stared at her. "Yes."

"Anything you want to tell me before you mother so I can rub in joyously in her face later on?"

"He's cute and he doesn't like me."

Ms Doen raised her brows, "really?"

"Yes." Marcy nodded soundly, sadly, and pulled up a stool next to her. "He has been very persistent about the boundaries of our relationship or lack there of."

The woman nodded, patting her god daughter on the hand. "His loss, sweet heart."

"Then why do I feel like I'm the one missing out?" Marcy asked quietly, biting her lip.

Ella glanced over at her sister in concern from between her two god-cousins, but didn't say anything. What was there to say?

"Hm." Ms Doen hummed, not completely sure how to take the normally cheerful girl's confession of heartache. "He must have one hell'va ass for you to be all twisted up about this."

Marcy chuckled, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. Why is it the first time I meet a guy I can stand, he's not attracted to me?" She sighed, "Unrequited fondness can leave a gal feeling rather inadequate."

Ms Doen shook her head, "you were such a strange little girl, Amarcia, I ever tell you that?"

She nodded solemnly, "yes, everyday."


	23. Christmas Get Mean With The Allerdyces

Eccentric and Loud. And nice, but mostly eccentric and loud.

That was the best way to describe Marcy's friends, so when sweet, quiet Adam entered, she was slightly concerned for his well being.

Eleanor, a woman who'd Marcy'd come to known through an ex-boyfriend, was talking quietly with her in a corner. "Why'd you break up with my son again?"

"Because we weren't sexually compatible and he said my shoes were ugly." She shrugged nonchalantly, earning an astounded stare from the woman who quickly retreated from the building.

Adam watched her pass as he strolled up to the grad student, "you send people running often, Marce?"

She smiled at him, "You'd be surprised."

_I doubt that_, he thought to himself, but smiled back nonetheless. Her frankness could be a little shocking at times. She didn't notice his quiet intake of her, as she was too busy staring at two women across the room.

_Please don't let Josie start shit, please don't let Josie start shit_-this wasn't because she was peculiarly fond of Josie, it was because Harper and Ella were 'tight' as Adam would say. This meant, again using their terms, if Harper and Josie 'threw down' Ella would 'back her shit up'.

He scanned the room; it wasn't very full, many ten, fifteen people tops. A set of twins in the corner, teasing Ella good naturedly as an elderly woman looked on in mild disinterest. Eric and Erica were curled up on the couch, next to them were two children, boys. With the boys was a little girl, and noting the unicorn on her beanie, Adam quickly deducted that this must be Cara. Next to Cara was a man, who seemed to be bickering with the children about something.

Adam turned to Marcy, "what are they fighting about?"

"Last I checked who gets the cat food coupon." She shrugged.

"W-wait what?" He blinked.

"Jay, as sweet as he may be, is an idiot. We gave the kids some coupons so they could think their gambling-"

"What?" Adam interjected.

"They were playing go-fish for coupons." Marcy explained, like it was nothing, "and Jay started playing with them, and then they started arguing over what amount of what product is equivalent to others, and it just kind of escalated from there."

Glancing down at her playful eyes Adam smiled, "you were totally fighting with them earlier weren't you?"

"Totally." She smiled, and he went back to assessing the room. Harper and Josie were in the corner, hanging decoration, and for once not fighting ("they're mildly intoxicated, don't drink anything offered to you unless I okay it," Marcy explained, taking a sip of her beer.). Besides that the place was pretty mellow.

"I told you," his friend smiled, "we only let people we really like come…well, that and a couple people from New Jersey couldn't come because they were arrested on suspicion of mischief."

Adam smirked, "meaning?"

"They got caught ridin' around with a deployed airbag."

The two chuckled and Marcy guided him over to her sister.

"You actually came!" Ella greeted, smiling widely.

"Yeah," the man took a side glance at Marcy, who was already settling in next to the elderly woman, who simply jerked her head to the seat next to her.

"Well, boy, sit yer ass down."

Adam quickly obligated. The woman put a secure arm around Marcy and shot the lab technician an untrusting glare.

"Adam, this is Ms Doen, Ms Down this is Adam," Marcy leaned a little closer to the woman, "try not to scare him, he's sensitive."

He tried to hide his indignity but Ella sensed it. "In the manliest of ways of course, Adikins."

"I doubt that." Ms Doen said, earning a light swat from Marcy.

"Be nice," she whispered harshly. Blue eyes wavered uncomfortably back at her apologetic smile.

Eventually, and by eventually it should be specified, three hours later, the woman warmed up to him.

"Os, Adam, Marcy tells me you don't get out much."

"I didn't say that!" the girl shrieked from her spot on the floor next to Cara(yes, she had been enticed back into the card game). She looked at him, "I swear I didn't."

Adam smiled slightly and shrugged at Miss Doen. "I don't really."

"Yeah, I picked up on that when she said you were going out with her on New Years, and that it wasn't a date," Her dark brown eyes gave him a once over, "are you a gay?"

"What?"

"Robyn!"

"What?" The woman chuckled, "I was just wondering why I straight man would choose to spend New Years with a girl when he knows he's not gonna get any."

Marcy dropped her blushing face into her hands. "Oh my god."

"He ain't gonna help you now, child." Miss Doen smirked, then looked back at Adam, "well?"

"No, I like girls." He assured her.

"Just not Marcy."

Cara looked up at her babysitter, "are you okay?"

"No." Marcy mumbled, and received a hug from the young girl. "Thanks…hey, quit looking at my cards!"

"No, I like Marcy." He blinked, as did Miss Robyn Doen. "Um…"

"So, what're saying is, you like her, but you don't want to date her. Like she's some kind of harlot. Marcy! Did you sleep with him!?"

"No!"

Ella looked at the twin she was talking to, Chris, "goddamn it gets more entertaining every year."

"I know, right?" He said, the tiniest hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. "Poor Adam."

"Poor Adam, indeed," The other twin, Quinn, added.

"It's perfectly acceptable to have guy friends!" Marcy blushed, covering the little girl in her lap's ears, as Jay ushered the boys, Cole and Robert, over to the cereal counter.

"Not when you-"

"Nah nah nah! You don't get to pull this with me!"

Miss Doen glared, "yes I don't, remember that contract I had written up with your mother?"

Adam lifted a brow, "she wrote up a contract giving you the right to chastise the company she keeps?"  
"Of course, when her mother is out, I am her replacement."

Marcy glared at her, "worst sixteenth birthday present ever."

"Rudolph will be on soon right?" Cara pulled Marcy's hands from her face, "because this is really boring."

"Yes, Carabear it'll be on in like, ten minutes."

Adam smiled at Marcy's gentle dealing of with the seven year old. "We haven't done anything."

"I'm sensing a _yet_ young man." Miss Doen looked over at her god daughter, who was resting her head against his leg. "And Marcy for the love of god, use a condom."

"What's a-" Cara started but was quickly interrupted by Ella, "It's on."

"Oh thank god," Adam muttered, dropping off the couch and onto the floor next to the New Zealander.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

He looked down at her, "it's okay."

"No it's not."

He chuckled, throwing an arm around her, "yes it is."

Behind them, Miss Doen's throat clearing went ignored.

-

Marcy walked Adam up the steps to his apartment as she sucked on her fifteenth candy cane. "I love these things."

Adam chuckled at her stained candied lips, "yeah, I know."

"Here," She reached into her messenger bag and handed him a box.

"You said no presents." He blushed as she shrugged.

"I know, but this stuff was just laying around the house anyways, so I figured what the hell?'

He smiled at her, "Thank you."

"Your welcome." She gave him a light kiss on the cheek, then rubbed the spot, "got candy on you, sorry."

"It's okay." Adam returned the gesture, letting his kiss linger on the side of her mouth a little longer then really necessary.

Marcy hung her head, "Why is this so hard, Adam?"

"I don't know." He muttered, closing his eyes as she rested her forehead against his neck. "I don't know…"

"Marcy-oh. Never mind!" Ella blushed and stumbled back into the cab.

"I should," she cleared her throat, and directed her gaze toward the street. "I'll see you on New Years, 'kay, Beaker?"

He nodded and watched as she silently made her way to the cab.

-

Curiosity got the better of him. He knew that it wasn't Christmas yet. Well, _technically_, it was Christmas. It being near four _whole_ minutes after midnight. He had tried watching TV, ignoring the gift wrapped in an old newspaper that lay on his countertop. He looked at it again. He could call her in the morning, thank her for it…

He picked it up. Twirling it in his hand a moment, he tore the paper off, and started blushing as a grin crept over his face.

Skittles, a pack of menthols and a couple hohos rested in his hands, and he quickly hailed a cab over to Marcy's.

-

Knocking several times, he jumped as the older Allerdyce sister jerked the door open.

"Adam, what're-"

He pushed her against the frame and kissed her, rougher then he had before. She was quick to respond and pulled him into the apartment. "What're-"

Adam broke her off with another sound kiss, this one slower, less urgent. "I just wanted to see you is all." He mumbled kissing her gently on the neck as she blushed.

"Good to see you to, Beak."

He grinned down at her, "Merry Christmas Marce."

"Merry Christmas, Adam." And with that she pulled him back down for another kiss.


	24. Walls are thin and Ella has a machete

Marcy awoke to warm arms securely wrapped around her. She was slow to move, perfectly comfortable in Adam's hold. But she could hear her sister rustling around outside her door, and knew what would happen if-

"Morning," Adam kissed her shoulder, tightening his grip slightly as she smiled.

"Morning." She leaned back against him. "It's Christmas."

"Yep." There was a pause before he noticed something, "Are you wearing my shirt?"

Marcy chuckled, pulling his arm closer to her chest, "It's my shirt now, sweetheart."

Adam looked around the room. Green carpet, pale blue walls, fairly small. It was strangely fitting of the young grad student. Littered with text books and articles, it was nothing sort of cluttered. There were a few more photos, some with the D.C group, and others with people he had not met. And of course, there was a fair share of Cara's drawings…but these ones seemed to depict some sort of animal. He wasn't sure which kind.

"We should get up before Ella comes in, crying about her virgin ears again."

He gave a bark of a laugh, "yeah, that was a little awkward."

-

Christmas Morning, 12:34 am

"Hey!" Ella shrieked as the couple wandered towards the bedroom, their steam having died down slightly. "You can't do that! You'll taint my virgin ears, Marcy! Marcy! If I wanted to hear that I'd have stayed home! Remember how thin the walls are-_MARCY_!"

-

Needless to say, nothing really happened between them. Not with Ella banging on the wall every couple minutes to remind them of her existence and close proximity.

"I don't understand that girl's reasoning skills," Marcy sighed, reluctantly swinging her legs over the bed, "first she's all about the hook up and now she cock blocks me."

Adam chuckled as she went on, "It's not rational."

She pulled on a pair of boxers, not really sure if they were clean or dirty, and quite honestly, not really caring as Adam sat up behind her. "You look good in my clothes."

The woman blushed slightly, "Thanks, you look good bare-chested."

"Thanks," He smiled, standing now, "I'm sure you do too."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth the Ross man began blushing heavily, "not that I ever ya know, thought about it or anything because that would be totally disrespectful, ya know-what're you doing?"

Adam's mouth hung open as Marcy pulled his-_her_ shirt off. She smirked. Tossing it at him as she made her way over to her small hamper, which he supposed she was using as a dresser. Catching it, he stumbled back a bit.

"Well, you wanted to see me topless anyway." She shrugged, pulling another shirt from the hamper and putting it on. Adam instantly missed the sight of her bare back, but smiled when he noticed her choice. "A Muppet shirt?"

"I love the Muppets, Beaker, you know that. It's only natural I have a shirt that conveys that." She grinned, doing a little spin just for him. He crossed the room, and slipped his arms around her waist.

"That doesn't surprise me as much as it should." Nuzzling into her neck, Adam felt her hands wrapped around his own, pulling him closer. Fiddling with his fingers a moment, Marcy sighed contently.

"We have to go out there eventually." She looked up at him, "you wanna stay for dinner? Or lunch or what ever it is we're doing? I don't think it's been decided yet."

He grinned, "Love to." He placed a kiss on her forehead as she leaned against his still uncovered chest. Closing her eyes she listened to his heart beat a moment before stating, "do you really I have to put a shirt on? Ella won't care, and I find you very attractive right now."

Adam flushed slightly, "um-"

"My proposition has made you uncomfortable, hasn't it?" Marcy smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, I was just trying to project that fact that I find your burliness sexually attractive and was in no way trying to-"

A soft brush of his lips against hers silenced her. "I know." He nodded, earning a girlish giggle from the female lab rat.

-

Eventually, the two did make it out of the bedroom.

"There they are!" Ella grinned, speaking neither to the couple nor herself, but rather Cara, and another woman Adam didn't know.

"You must be Adam. Cara's told me all about you." The woman smiled as the seven year old through herself around his legs.

"Hi, Adam!" She shrieked happily. He smiled fondly down at her and ruffled her red hair.

"Hey, Cara. How's your Christmas going?"

She beamed up at him, her big green eyes bright, "Great! Mom got me this shirt with a butterfly and a new teddy that has a bow and-" The little girl continued to list off her presents and Adam listened carefully, asking questions every now and then.

Marcy watched a small smile placed on her face. He certainly seemed to have the paternal instinct, and she found it…cute. Sitting next to the woman she caught a smirk.

"What?"

"You been a dirty girl, Marce?"

The lab rat blushed, "no, regardless of what Fitzy's told you, nothing happened."

Cara pulled Adam over to the women, "Adam, this is my mommy, mommy this is Adam."

"Hi, Adam," The red head shook his hand, "I'm Helen."

"Hey," He took a seat next to his(…he blinked, where did they stand anyway?)...he took a seat next to Marcy. She tossed a hand on his knee as Cara went on to him about Christmas mass.

"Are you heading to your mother's?" Marcy inquired as Cara continued to jump up and down, squealing about Adam's shirt(which was really Marcy's brother, Nikki's) and how pretty he was. Adam, that is, Cara had never met Nikki.

Helen sighed, "Yeah. Don't worry; we'll be going in a couple minutes."

Marcy's smile faltered, "I wasn't trying to implicate-"

"I know." Helen smirked, nudging her friend as Ella went to get some apple juice ("the piss of gods!"). "Ma's just all uppity because last Christmas Care spent it with her dad instead of us."

"Psh," Ella scoffed, re-entering the room as Adam and Cara played rock, paper, scissors on the floor, "she needs a reality check, that woman does."

The two agreed and Helen glanced at her watch. "Well, we've only got three hours to get there before we're late and terrible people. Cara, say goodbye to Adam."

The little one gave a groan of annoyance before giving him a long hug. "I'll see you later right?"

He nodded, patting the top of her head, "of course."

-

"Pancakes?"

"No." Marcy took a sip of Ella's apple juice as she curled into Adam's side.

"Green jolly ranchers?"

Adam glanced at the teen, "no."

"Come on!" The two chorused.

He kissed Marcy's forehead, "no."

"Fine," she groaned. "What about waffles? I think we have a box of the frozen kind."

She received no protest. "Waffles it is then."

-

"Toaster's broke!" Ella's voice trailed down the hall as Adam flipped through a photo album labeled "_Nikki's Hall of Shame_ **Part** **III**".

"Microwave 'em." Her sister shrugged as the petite brunette entered, looking quite forlorn.

"That's not a bad idea." The girl nodded appreciatively before disappearing back into the kitchen.

Adam looked over at Marcy, or rather her legs. She hadn't bothered to put pants on, and was sitting in her living room in a pair of boxers. Her pale legs were stretched out next to his jean clad ones and she was absent mindedly running a finger up and down his calf. Blinking slowly, he came to the conclusion that it would be okay if he returned the action. He lifted his index and trailed it from her knee to her ankle, smirking slightly as he felt her shudder subtly under his touch. She inched closer.

"That feels nice." She commented.

Adam gave it a light squeeze as he went back to flipping through the album. Various photos contained poses, grins, smirks, and quite a few depicting the lanky younger brother in handcuffs, or at least in the presence of police officers. They also seemed to contain the same group of boys, all of them in their teens, about four of them. He chuckled as he caught sight of one that had Ella in it.

He turned it to face the Allerdyce sibling, "a machete?"

"It was her birthday!" Marcy said the slightest hint of hostility in her voice. "And it was Kyle's idea, blame him. He was all hopped up on poptarts and mountain dew!"

"So he gave her a machete?" Adam cocked a brow and gave her ankle a quick jerk. Yelping she swatted at him, "So?!"

"So that's dangerous!" He grinned, moving to pull her leg again as she shuffled away from him.

"Didn't you ever play with deadly weapons when you were younger?!"

_Just my dad_, the words sped through his mind and he sobered quickly. "No."

"Liar," Marcy smiled, and then took in his expression before offering an example, "I think everyone played with matches, Beaker."

"I wouldn't call matches a dangerous weapon." He smiled as she limberly climbed into his lap.

"I think the victims of arson would disagree, Adam." She nuzzled into his neck. They sat there in quiet contemplation a moment. His fingers lingered over the hem of her shorts as she placed a careful kiss on his throat.

"Whatever it is, Adam," He kept staring ahead as she spoke softly to him, "I still think you're adorable. And so does Ella, and let's face it, we're the only people here, so we're the only people that matter."

Oddly, this statement did comfort him and it was more then reinforced as Ella entered the room, asking if _Adikins_ knew how to fix a microwave.


	25. Picture Perfect

"Son of a bitch, Nikki." A stern face woman glared at the lanky boy and the camera shook slightly. Dark, malice filled eyes were directed at it, "Steven, for the love of god, turn that thing off this instant!"

Adam gasped for air, as the siblings continued to giggle wildly next to him.

It was easy to see that their eccentricity was genetic. It had to be. Three out of five children couldn't possibly a coincidence. He took a bite of his waffle. Luke warm on the inside, burnt on the outside. A stovetop obviously wasn't the best place to cook microwave waffles. But Ella had been so excited, and quite frankly he didn't have the balls to upset the fiery kiwi, he didn't complain.

"I think that was the day Ms Yelnats quit, wasn't it, Fitz?"

Marcy sat up and curled into Adam's side as Ella nodded, "uh huh. Three years with Nikki was more than enough."

The man slid an arm around her as the girls spoke of previous encounters with their brother and his…disciplinary issues.

"You remember when Kyle accidently set the garage on fire and didn't tell anyone about it?" Ella asked, earning a gasp from her sister.

"Yes! All my cassettes- gone!" She crossed her arms, "and he never-"

"Apologized!" The sisters finished.

Ella looked at Adam. "It was nine years ago and she still hasn't forgiven him."

He chuckled, and she elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey!" he yelped.

Marcy smirked. "Oops."

"_Oops_." He mimicked, giving her a light pinch on the side.

She shifted away from him, "prick."

Ella grinned at the two. Part of her wanted to hang a _**Mission Accomplished**_ banner from the ceiling. But a smaller part, a much, much smaller part, felt a spark of concern rise in her chest. She liked Adam, thought he was good for Marcy, but she found him a little dodgy. A little secretive. Particularly about his past.

"So…Adikins. Tell us a little about your self. Ever been to prison?" The teen cocked a suggestive brow.

"What?" he chuckled. "No."

"Oh. Ever got anyone pregnant?"

"Fitzy." Marcy shook her head sternly.

"No, I don't think so anyway." He furrowed his brows, where was this coming from? "Um-"

"Ever contracted a venereal disease?"

"Ellaiden!" Marcy smacked her upside the head. "What's wrong with you!? Of course he hasn't!"

She looked at him, "you haven't right?"  
"No!" He said with the slightest hint of indignity in his voice.

"If you have there's no shame in it-"

"I haven't." He assured her, shaking his head slightly.

Marcy clicked her tongue, "uh-huh." She looked at her little sister, "you all packed up?"

"Yup yup." The brunette nodded. She'd be leaving in the morning. "You gonna visit before you head off to the great beyond?"

Adam shot his…_friend_, a side glance. Was she going to visit him before she left? Make a special trip? Even just for a few hours? Would she even bother to call him before she got on the plane to Darfur? He lowered his head as an even more pressing matter struck him in the chest, would she think of him at all after she left New York?

"Probably." Marcy nodded, "I'm thinking of taking a week or two off before hand so I can get all my arrangements in order."

Adam's quiet flush didn't go unnoticed, but after the berating her sister had given him, Marcy didn't want to start an intimate discussion with Ella in the room. So she simple rested a hand on his leg, and changed the subject.

"What're you doing for New Years?"

Ella groaned, "Probably drinking with Nikki and Blaire…then I'll listen to Kira bad mouth you for most of the night."

"At which you will defend my honour right?"

Adam cast Marcy a look, she'd plastered on a smile at the mention of her older sister. Tilting his head, he absent mindedly placed his hand over hers, which still rested on his thigh. _I thought she had the perfect family._

Ella nodded, "course, doll, always do."

"Mm." Marcy hummed and stood, "I'm gonna get a drink, anyone need anything?"

Neither did, and she retreated without a word.

"Kira doesn't approve of Amarcia's career choice." Ella muttered. "Thinks she's a freak."

"Oh." He hadn't meant for it to come out in a whisper, but it did. And in that moment he realized he and the girl he'd come to know weren't as different as he thought.


	26. The Wanton Disregard of Clothing

"Green."

Ella moved the cootie-catcher accordingly. "Number?"

"Twelve." Marcy sighed, bored, as Adam dozed curled in a ball on the couch next to their seat on the floor.

The teen opened the slot. "You've lied to the ginger boy on the couch."

"It doesn't say that!" her sister snatched it from her hands and read it over, "you've lied to the gin- No I haven't!"

"Yes you have." Ella insisted.

Marcy shook her head, "not mentioning isn't the same as lying."

"Yeah, I know, it's worse. The wanton disregard of information. That's a government thing, not an Allerdyce thing."

"Good thing I'm going to be working with the FBI then." The tone was harsher then she'd meant, and she apologized for it.

"No biggie. We should go soon." Ella glanced at the clock on the VCR, "My plane takes off in two hours."

"Yeah," Marcy gave Adam a light kiss on the forehead and tossed a blanket over him.

Ella tilted her head slightly, "He's drooling on your pillow."

"I know."

-

"You gonna be okay in the big city all by your lonesome, Sparky?"

The older girl grinned, "I think I'll fair okay."

"Good." Ella gave her a one armed hug. Before holding her at arms length, tearing slightly, she gave her a weak smile, "I'll be seeing you, right?"

"'Course."

Neither of them was entirely sure that was the truth, so the next embrace was considerable tighter. As they separated Marcy brushed some of the teen's tears away.

"You tell the folks I said, _wuddup_, okay?"

Ella chuckled, "okay. Love ya, Marce."

"Love you too, Fitz." Waving good bye, Marcy's heart sank as her little sister got on the plane. _She's all grown up now_-Ella flashed her the devil's sign and stuck her tongue out as she boarded-Marcy smiled, _okay, maybe not._

-

Adam awoke to an empty apartment. Standing, he wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. He managed to blink the sleep from his eyes as they examined the room. A smirk fluttered across his face, he was alone. She'd never find out…it was perfectly okay for him to snoop-respectfully of course. He'd stay out of her bedroom and all…but that cabinet on the other side of the room was just too tempting.

"Marcy?" His voice carried through the empty apartment, "if you're not home but give me permission to go through the filing cabinet don't say anything!"

Silence. 1. 2. 3-

He popped the first drawer open, smiling at its contents. She sure had a lot of Disney movies. Adam's first assumption was that they were, of course, for Cara. But after noting that there were at least three Muppet movies, he began to doubt that. Putting Muppet Treasure Island on, he went on to the next drawers. The next one was also filled with cluttered DVDs, and crumpled papers. These movies were more 'age appropriate' with documentaries, and a few dark comedies. Growing bored with it he moved to the last one, discarding the blue woolen cloth on the floor. This one was all files.

Mostly case files, with names he didn't recognize_. Renaissance death- 1600s_, _Torture Victim-Dark Ages, Last-_

Adam's hands shook as he picked it up.

Last Will and Testaments. Wearily, he opened it and checked the name. His eyes darted down to the name.

Amarcia Cerys Allerdyce.

Definitely her. He blinked and slowly dropped it back into its spot. Adam's mouth was suddenly dry and his eyes suddenly wet as he made his way to the kitchen.

The TV behind him continued to drift in and out of his mind as something sparked at the words.

"_I'm sorry your present didn't work out_." A young boy's voice echoed.

He leaned over the sink, letting his head drop. She wouldn't-nothing was going to happen to her. Adam's own reassurance did nothing to ease his paranoia.

"_Please don't drop it! It's all it's all I have_-" The front door opened and he quickly wiped his eyes.

Marcy glanced at the screen. "Adam?" She called.

"In here."

Spotting his back, she ducted into the kitchen, smiling dimly as she wrapped her arms around him. "Everything okay, love?"

He shook his head and she tightened her hold on him as he spoke. "Why did you write your will?"

"Just a work hazard is all." Marcy smiled a little to herself. "Is that what all this foolishness is about?"

He turned sharply, "It's not foolish! You could die, doesn't that bother you!?"

She jumped slightly at his outburst. "Of course Adam but you don't need to be a spazz about it."

"_Why do you always have to be such a fucking spazz, Jesus Christ Adam, grow up!"_ Adam flinched at the memory. Marcy raised a hand delicately to his face.

"Adam?"

He jerked away from her, chuckling falsely, "sorry, I –um. Sorry."

"It's not nothing, if it's about the whole dying thing; I rewrite my will whenever I fly. Or take road trips. Or have Nikki visit." She stared into space, "but that's more incase I murder him and end up on death row then anything else."

Adam rested his head on her shoulder as she leaned against him. "You really shouldn't worry yourself over stuff like that Adam. It's out of your control."

"I know." He sighed. "Ella, get off okay?"

"Yeah. Fine."

They stood in silence a moment before Marcy tucked herself into the crook of his neck.

"My sister hates me." She whispered.

He tightened his grip. "My dad used to beat me and my mom."

"I know." She placed a soft kiss on his collar bone. Then his throat. Then his mouth. Letting it linger a moment she pulled back, stroking his beard coyly. He leaned into her, taking her hips in his hands as he brought her closer to him. Rubbing his fingers on the pale exposed flesh on them he stared down at her as she ran her hands up and down his arms. Marcy fiddled with his sleeves a moment. She glanced up at him through her lashes.

"You know, Adam," She brought her fingers up to the top button of his shirt, snapping it open. Then the next. Her cool hands fluttered under the fabric, running across his shoulders as she lifted her hips to rest against his. "I _really_ like you bare-chested."

"Miss Allerdyce." He smirked, resting his fingers just on the inside of her low ridding jeans, "You're trying to seduce me."

"Uh-huh." She admitted, tilting her head and biting her lip, "Is it working?"

"Uh-huh." Adam smiled, mimicking her tilt as he placed a welcomed kiss on the small area of her neck that wasn't covered by her black sweater. Pulling the zipper down, he smirked. "You didn't change before you left."

He toyed with the hem of her Muppet shirt as she dropped the sweatshirt to the floor. Feeling bold he slipped his hands under it, running them up and down her sides. She wasn't spectacularly thin, her ribs didn't poke out of her sides nor did any of the bones in her body. He came to the edge of her bra and trailed a finger along the outline of it. Marcy shuddered. "Adam…"

"Mmhm?" He moved to her neck, leaving light nips and kisses as he brought her back against him.

"Why the hell aren't we naked yet?"

He chuckled. "I don't know."

Continuing up to her lips, Adam let out a quiet moan as she kissed him roughly on the mouth, boring her hips into his. Squeezing his broad shoulders Marcy slipped her tongue into his mouth as they backed into the counter top. Gripping her ass, he hauled her up onto it as she looped a leg around his waist. Tugging his shirt off, she smiled into the kiss as she raked her nails lightly down to his jeans.

He gasped quietly as Marcy broke the kiss to undo his pants, leaving feathery touches in her wake.

"Condom?" She asked.

He blinked at her. "Huh?"  
"Do you have a condom?"

"Shit." He yanked his pants back up. "In my wallet. Which is in my coat, just a sec."

Marcy grinned, laughing a little as he stumbled back toward the coat rack. Holding it triumphantly over his head he reentered the kitchen.

"Got it!" He announced and Marcy grabbed his hand, pulling him into the bedroom.

A/N: that one was kinda steamy. Sorry for the long wait and I hope my awkwardness didn't translate on to the page.


	27. Nightmare squence

"Why were you watching my Muppets movie earlier?"

Marcy looked up from Adam's chest as he stroked her hair. They remained nude, curled up in her double bed, completely void of any coverings. She could feel his chuckle, and smiled as she looked up at him. "What?"

"I don't know, it was just kind of…there." He said, sighing contently as she traced her fingers along his collar bone. There was a slight pause. "You wanna watch it don't you?"

"Maybe…" She squirmed a moment.

He squeezed his blue eyes closed. "Oh. Okay."

This of course elected that _squee_ noise from her throat and she was quick to jump off the bed. Grabbing his shirt from the floor, she slipped it on as she slid on her underwear.

"What is it with you and my shirts?" Adam asked, smiling comfortably as she buttoned it up.

A flush rose up on her pale cheeks, "it smells like you," she paused and tossed him his boxers. "By the way, I thought part of our agreement was you wouldn't wear this aftershave any more-and how can you wear after shave if you have a beard, Beaker?"

Standing he smiled down at her curious eyes as she took his face in her hands. Giving her a light kiss on the lips, he rested his forehead against hers.

"It's cologne."

"Isn't that like, perfume for men?" Marcy asked, as he pulled her into the living area.

"Pretty much," he said, dropping on to the couch as Marcy slipped on behind him. Wrapping her arms around him, he laid gently on her chest as she clicked play. The two settled in comfortably as she began to fiddle with his hair and his eyes began to droop.

-

"Adam, hand me that bone saw." Adam tore his eyes from Sid to the clothe covered body.

Passing him the requested item, he couldn't help but ask. "Who is it?"

"Jane Doe, female early twenties." The older man pulled back the sheet, giving Adam a full view of Marcy's corpse. Reaching down, Adam gently pushed her face to the side.

"How'd she die?" He inquired, watching as Sid cut into her chest cavity.

"Don't know yet but shrapnel looks good for it."

Adam looked down at her lifeless eyes. "That's too bad."

"Yeah." Sid rested his hands on the stainless steel table. "She was a good kid."

"Yeah," Adam watched as Sid picked up the rib spreader. "She was."

-

Marcy was staring at him when he woke up. "Everything okay, sweetheart?"

Her dark blue eyes glittered with concern as she brushed some of his hair back from his sweaty brow. Adam placed a rough hand on her cheek as he sat up. "Three months."

"What?"

He pulled her to his chest, holding her tightly and burying his face in her hair.

"Adam, what's wrong?" Marcy's accent was slightly thicker as she wrung her hands together in discomfort.

"Bad dream," he muttered, playing light kisses along her jaw, and cheeks. Cupping her face in his hands he rested his forehead against hers.

Marcy leaned in them, "about what?"

"Stupid stuff," Adam shook his head, pulling her to his chest as he laid back down. He watched as she continued to wring and fidget with her hands. Placing his own on top of them, she focused on his rather than her own.

Three months. He closed his eyes. Trying to assure himself that regardless of what happened to her, these three months would count. Matter. Keep her, and himself, sane.

Unfortunately fate would take a wrong turn before he could live up to his promise.


	28. A Very Happy New Year

"I hate crowds." Adam mumbled, pulling his jacket closer to himself and Marcy stared, awestruck at the scene around her.

The square was lit up theatrically, as the moments to New Years dwindled down. The crowd was bustling, moving to and from their destinations noisily, as the two out place on lookers searched for their Greek companion.

Marcy smiled at him. "Like I said, we don't have to stay long. Just long enough to meet Stella's new beau and be on our way."

She gently pulled on the front of his jacket, bringing him closer to her. She adjusted his beanie and clapped her hands down on his shoulders. "I promise."

Adam gave her reddened cheek a quick peck. "Swear on Jim Henson?"

There was a hesitance.

"Marcy…"

"Fine, I swear on Jim Henson." The brunette sighed, wrapping her arms around his burly frame. "But it should be noted I do it with great-"

"Hey!"

The two jumped apart. Stella chuckled, "scare ya?"

Marcy smirked, turning to embrace the woman, "maybe a little."

Adam gave the man a once over. Tall, dark and handsome, just Stella's type. Instant dislike. The men shook hands.

"You must be Adam." He flashed him a 500 watt smile, and the lab tech returned it, stiffly.

"You must be…" Adam blinked. Marcy never told him the guy's name.

"Jonathan," Stella supplied, taking the man's hand as Marcy wrapped her arms around Adam's waist in a affectionate effort to keep the two warm.

Jonathan turned his eyes to the Kiwi, "and you must be Marcy."

She nodded in his general direction, "uh huh. Well, this was fun-"

"Marcy…" Stella warned, "Why don't we head down to Puffs? It's just up the block, Eric'll probably have coffee or something-"

"Eric doesn't serve coffee. He has this thing about caffeine and its affects on the mind." Marcy shrugged, "something about how it's a low level, legal, narcotic or something."

Jonathan stared at her, "is he fucking re-"

"Watch it." Adam said, his tone breezy but his eyes containing a hint of authority that Marcy, or Stella, hadn't seen before. In all honesty- Marcy tightened her hold on him, and his face flushed for reasons that had nothing to do with the cold.

Marcy continued to smile up at him, with the slightest hint of suggestion on her pale pink lips as she nodded. "I think we go now."

"Me too." Stella nodded, ignoring the glare she received from Adam, but the girl's annoyance would not be silenced.

"Why do you always cock block me, Stella? That's not very stellar." The future anthropologist clicked her tongue as her peers blushed.

-

And so they arrived at Puffs. The atmosphere was relaxed and still quite loud, from both the music blaring behind the counter, and of course, the crowds outside.

"Kitten!" Erica threw her arms open, hopping off Eric's lap. Adam glanced between the two; they did look freakishly alike. He made a mental note to question Eric on his stance on incest.

Marcy grinned, ushering Stella up to the counter. "This is-"

"Stellar Stella." Eric nodded, moving his head in a way reminiscent of Pauly Shore. "Marce talks about you all the time-and Danny, and Flack, and Sid, but mostly Adam."

"I'm Jonathan," He flashed that smile again, to which the two bohemians simply stared.

"Great." Eric dropped his tone, pulling his girlfriend back into his lap, "more cops. Just what I need."

The Kiwi ruffled his shaggy hair, reaching popping the door to the counter up. "Got anything to eat, Male Erica?"

"Just cereal?"

"Well, where's the real food?" Jonathan asked. He received no response. Just an understanding pat on the hand from his girlfriend.

Adam took a seat on the awaiting stool and pulled off his winter wear. Setting the beanie and gloves on the light pink counter top, he watched Marcy take off her own. Her dark hair whipped out and she shook it out with her fingers, flashing him a soft smile.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Stella asked, accepting the cup of hot chocolate Erica had offered her.

The two looked at each other and the man shrugged, "define _together_."

"In a relationship?" Erica asked, "About four years."

"And you?" Jonathan had turned his attention to Adam and Marcy who were quietly eating cereal, Adam-his special mix, and Marcy-Apple Jacks.

Marcy glanced up at him, warily, "we're not."

"Oh."

Adam bowed his head and stirred his cereal, which was slowly getting mushy. He spun it, staring at it intently, not noticing the concern stare from the dark blue eyes behind the counter.

-

"I hate crowds." Adam repeated, as the giddy young woman pulled him from the warmness of Puffs, into the harsh unforgiving New York wintertime. No that sounded to fluffy-winter. Just winter.

Marcy pulled him toward the square, Jonathan in the back of her mind-or more frankly, Jonathan's question.

What the hell were they anyway? She looked at him, his face was blistered from the wind and he was glancing around nervously. She suppressed a grin, taking his cold face in her gloves.

"10!" The crowds began to echo. Cheering and laughing as the couple stood in the middle of the street.

"What are we Adam?"

"9!" He looked down at her twinkling eyes and smiled.

"Well, what do you want to be?"

"8!"

She wrapped her arms around him, looking him in the eyes.

"7!"

"Come on, Adam-"

"Seriously. Name it."

"6!"

"You know I'm-" A man bumped into her, forcing her even closer to him.

"5!"

"Know you're what?" Adam asked resting his forehead on hers as she grinned up at him.

"4!"

"That I'm totally into you, hook, line and sinker, Beak." Marcy watched the grin creep over his features.

"3!"

"You mean that?" He asked, pulling her slight frame tight against him.

"2!"

"Uh-huh."

"You wanna be my girlfriend?" He teased.

"1!"

"I'm already yours, Adam you know-"

He pressed his cold lips firmly against her own in a heated kiss. She smiled as warmth flooded through her and she slipped her hand up to the back of his neck.


	29. Snow Days Arent Always Fun

Adam woke up before her. As usual. He peered down at her sleeping frame, curled into his side. Her arm were draped limply on his chest, the other was resting on the pillow above her. Twirling a piece of her dark brown hair between his fingers, He carefully reached over to his night stand.

The couple had stumbled back to his apartment (it was closer to the Square than Marcy's) around one a.m the night before and had…had relations. It was nearing eleven a.m now, and Adam's phone had been ringing, or rather vibrating for the past half hour.

He plucked it off the night stand, and checked his voice mail. Most of them were Mac, asking if he was available to work that night.

Adam sighed, he really didn't feel like it. He had to work the following day, and than the next, and than the next. He continued to twirl the strand, as he pressed call. He really didn't feel like leaving his bed.

"Hello, you've reached the office of detective Mac Taylor. How may I help you?"

Adam sighed at the receptionist's shrill tone, "This is Adam Ross calling for-"

"I'll patch you through."

Annoying music more suited for elevators than humans followed.

Blue eyes blinked up at him, smiling he watch Marcy move, setting her hands on his chest she tilted her head. She rested her head on her hands, as her fingers tapped rhythmically on his cool skin.

"Adam?"

He jumped at the sound of his boss voice, "Mac! How-uh, how's it goin'?"

"Good. Vacation went well?" Mac's tone was impatient, obviously not enjoying the small talk.

"Great." Adam purred, brushing his finger tips along Marcy cheek. They left a soft pink blush in their wake.

Across the city, Mac's brows shot up, "oh?"

"Yep."

"Well, um," He cleared his throat, not quite knowing how to respond to that. Remembering that task at hand, he asked, "are you free to work tonight?"

"Yep." Adam replied, not really listening. He'd tuned out after Marcy began running her fingers up and down his beard.

"Great, see ya at seven."

*click.*

_Wait what?!_ Adam's eyes shot from the girl to his phone. _Damnit._

Marcy continued stroking his beard, watching his brow furrow at the small silver machine before setting it back down. "You got suckered into work…" She sang playfully.

Smirking down at her, he was quick to roll her on to her back. "We'll just have to make this time count then, won't we babe?"

Marcy giggled as he squeezed her sides sharply.

-

"You know how I feel about cell phones, Bumble."

Marcy's eyes trailed down to Adam's butt as he continued to play Guitar Hero. "I know."

"Hmm. Well, I'll make this quick, you're good?"

"I'm good." Marcy chuckled, "and you?"

"We're good. Everyone. All of us as a whole…well, except Nikki. Half a brain isn't a hole." Robert Allerdyce chuckled at his own joke as his daughter giggled over the receiver. "Works going well?"

"Uh-huh, you?"

"Uh-huh. Boyfriends good?" He probed, wondering if Ella's lie was true. Marcy didn't have boyfriends…she had relations. That's how Robert knew he was related to her.

"Yeah, he's good." Marcy couldn't help but flush at her own double-entendre as Adam plopped on to the couch next to her. She smiled at him; she really did love him bare-chested.

Robert sighed, "Well, kitten, it's been fun. See ya in a couple months?"

"Yupyup." Marcy nodded, pulling Adam closer to her.

"'Kay, love ya."

"Love ya."

*click.*

"Other boyfriend?" Adam questioned, nuzzling against her.

Marcy rolled her eyes, "We've been together a day, Beaker. That makes you the other boyfriend."

"Hmm," He ran his hands up her pale arms. She was in one of his shirts again. Boxers, too. "I'm not hearing a _no_, there, Amarcia."

"My dad-and don't call me that. Only Bones calls me that. I hate that." Said Marcy, as Adam cupped her face. "What'cha doin' there, Ross?"

He gave her shortish hair a light tug. Her eyes lit up as he moved down her back.

"Oh." She muttered, leaning into kiss him, "I get it now."

-  
The day came and went, and Adam found himself tapping information into the computer in front of him. Techno beats flooded through his ears as he bobbed his head along with the music.

There was shuffling behind him, and he felt his ear-bud get pulled out. "Adam?"

"Huh? Oh!" He grinned at the site of Mac, "Whaddup, boss man?"

"Feel like going out in the field, Adam?"

The lab rat lit up. "Totally!"

"Okay, come on, you got a scene to process. You know the warehouse up in Queens Flack did the bust in earlier?"

"You don't mean…" Adam's voice trailed, and Mac smiled at the man's enthusiasm.

"Yep. Lindsey'll meet you there." Before he knew it, Mac's hand was being shaken vigorously.

"Oh, thanks man! You won't regret this, I swear! I won't screw it up! I-I-" Adam beamed, "I gotta tell Marcy!"

"Hmm." Mac chuckled as Adam ran off to the basement.

-

"Guess who got field work?"

Marcy looked up at him, "I don't know, probably Danny, isn't he-oh."

She grinned; "oh!" she hopped into his outstretched arms, _Squee_ing at him. "Oh, Adam!"

"Yeah, actually I gotta go, but we'll celebrate later, right?" He kissed her, blushing when she gave his backside a stern smack.

"You bet you're sweet ass we will."  
-

"Hey," Stella grinned, watching as Marcy rocked back and forth on her heels. "Everything alright?"

Marcy glanced at her, tearing her eyes from the flickering screen of holograms in front of her. "Oh, yeah. Fine."

"You look kinda…dazed." The older woman leaned against the makeshift podium as the New Zealander sighed.

"Just a little worried. Adam's in the field." Marcy rolled her eyes, "with New Aiden."

Stella shook her head, sending curls back and forth. "No, Danny took her shift, he just left."

"Oh." Marcy smirked, "guess I wasn't the only one who got some over Christmas."

The woman chuckled as she continued, "a very merry Christmas indeed."

-

"Adam, what'd they do to you buddy?" Danny looked down at Adam's hand, littered with cigarette burns, that quivered against his chest.

"i-They we're gonna kill me, Danny, they-they-" He watched Adam as he bit back a sob. "They got everything."

"What'd you mean _everything_?"

Adam sighed frustrated as he banged his head back against the wall. "My i.d, my notes, i-I gave them the pass codes to the lab." He looked at Danny, dazed, "Marcy's there."

"Don't worry, buddy, we'll get you back to your girl in no time. Where's you're kit?

Adam jerked his head over to the box, "over there."

"We'll get you back to Marce, but first you gotta do me a little favor." Danny bit the tourniquet, pulling it tighter on his hand.

"O-okay."

"I'm gonna need ya to go get it."

Adam watched Danny run off, "wait what?!"

-

"This is so lame." Marcy sighed, huddling in-between Peyton and Sid as she tried, for the third time, to contact Adam.

Peyton patted her arm, attempting to comfort the pale girl, "I'm sure he's fine. Lindsey's with him-"

"Hey guys, what's going on?" the three looked at the Montanan.

Sid furrowed his brow, "I thought you we're with Adam."

"No, Danny took my shift." Lindsey rubbed her hands together as something came over the radio.

Peyton was quick to question Mac's whereabouts, but Lindsey wasn't paying attention. She and Marcy locked concerned eyes as the crossed the street.

"-hostage situation. Repeat we have a hostage situation."

Peyton and Sid shared a knowing glance, before turning to watch the girls hail a cab.

"You don't think…" Sid's voice trailed, before shaking his head, "nah."

-


	30. Montana

"Danny?"

"Hmm?" The Italian man snuck a glance over to his wounded comrade.

Adam swallowed, finding it difficult to breathe in the humidity, "I'm crazy about Marcy." He felt the tears slide down his face, but couldn't stop them, "Stupid in love with her."

"I know. We all know." Danny said. He knew this probably wasn't the most encouraging thing to say, but he couldn't stop himself.

"If I die-"

Danny scoffed, chuckling slightly, "Yer overreacting, you'll be fine."

Adam said nothing a moment, "I just want to make sure she knows."

"She knows." Danny ran a tongue over his dry lips. "I'll tell her if you tell Montana-"

"I will."

"Good, now we just gotta get outta here so we can tell'em ourselves."

-

"Christ, what's taking so damn long?"

Lindsey cast the young woman a glance, watching as Marcy eagerly wringing her hands together. Turning her brown eyes to the girl's hands, she couldn't help but notice the shake they had to them. "I'm sure they're fine."

"What-" Marcy raked her hands through her hair, before covering her eyes and inhaling deeply, "what if he's not?"

The Kiwi dropped into the seat next Lindsey and looked at her. Expecting some kind of answer. When she received none, she tore her eyes from the brunette and looked at the warehouse.

"Why does it suddenly seem so ominous?" Marcy asked, her voice felt like it was caught in her throat.

Lindsey took her hand. "It'll be okay, Marcy."

Smiling half heartedly, the girl nodded, "thanks, Montana."

-

"Wait!" Adam ran out in front of the two men, and Don quickly lowered his weapon. "They're cops! See? They're cops."

-

"You can go in now." The women jumped at the officer's words, and rushed past her, as Don exited.

Marcy stopped at him as Lindsey rushed forward, "Is he-?"

"He's a little banged up," Don grinned at her worried features, "but he'll live."

She sighed with relief and darted into the warehouse. She halted, catching the sight of him. Adam's face was littered with bruises and cuts and for a moment Marcy forgot to breathe. Like the pressure in her chest was rooting her to the spot, she stared. Warm tears slicked down her face before she could stop them. Her breath coming out in small, rushed sections and she ran toward him. She slowed when she reached him.

They stared at each other a moment, before Marcy flung her arms around him. He wrapped his arms around her, but jerked back, cradling his hand to his chest.

"Marcy-" Adam started but she was quick to interrupt him.

"Let me see." She gently pulled it towards her, but her throat closed up as soon as she saw the burns that scattered his hands. "Oh, Adam."

The tears began pouring down her face now, and Marcy shook her head. She kissed the soft flesh between the wounds and put her arms around Adam, more gently this time. He jolted back from her.

"Adam-"

He shook his head, trying to ignore the quiver in her voice as he looked away from her. "I-the medics-" He shook his head again, sighing. "I gotta go."

"Do you want-"

"No!" He snapped, electing a jump from her that turned his stomach. Adam couldn't face her now. He wasn't stupid, he knew the sight of him was-

"Mr. Ross?" A medic was gesturing to the ambulance. "We'd like to take you to the hospital for x-rays."

Adam gave him a solemn nod and turned his back on her.

He needed sometime to process this. Decompress. He knew she'd be upset, but-why couldn't she get that he put her in danger? That it was his fault? Why couldn't she be upset over _that_?

Marcy watched him go; letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. _Jesus Christ, what've they done to him?_ More tears raced down her face and she bit her lip. Why didn't she ask him to stay? Why didn't she go with him? Marcy looked down at her hands as she wrung them. Over and over. She couldn't help but wince when she noticed the red that was splashed on them.

"Adam." She murmured.

-

"Did you see that?"

"See what?" Lindsey looked up at Danny as she helped him along. He was heavier than he looked.

Danny limped towards the ambulance, "Adam just blew Marcy off."

"What?!" Lindsey jerked away from him, almost sending him to the ground, "What'd you mean?!"

"Jesus! Little help 'ere!?" Danny shouted, and Lindsey quickly went back to his side.

Her brow furrowed, "I thought Adam loved Marcy."

"He does," Danny nodded, "he's just an idiot." He sat down, wincing, "go get 'er for me, will ya, sweetheart?"

Danny watched the two converse a moment. Marcy's hands twisted together feverishly as Lindsey lead her back over to him.

"Hey Marce." Her eyes widened at the sight of him and she went to hold him-but upon remembering Adam's discomfort she stopped. Sensing this, he opened his arms and she quickly embraced him.

"Oh Danny, I'm so glad your okay." She pressed her damp lips against his cheek and sniffed, as she wiped the remnants of tears from her face.

Danny cast Lindsey a look and she offered to go get a medic.

"I-" Marcy sighed, leaning against him slightly, "I don't know what to do with him, Danny. I mean, I'm not very god with emotions, and people and-god Danny he liked at me like-" She shook her head, and Danny held her a little tighter, careful of his hand.

"Take him home Marcy, you'll figure it out." He rubbed her arm encouragingly and she bit back a sob.

"I can't. he already left."

Danny quirked a smile, "so wait for him."

"I can do that," she nodded, and Lindsey returned with the medic.

"Everything alright?" she asked, as the Kiwi stood.

Marcy nodded, giving her a pat on the back as she turned. "I guess we'll see."

A/N: we all knew I couldn't keep them happy for long. Special shout out to ekoc19, the best youtuber ever! She's agreed to make me an after hours trailer, and I expect everyone to check out her amazing vids, b.c they are amazing.


	31. Doing Something

So she waited. An hour ticked by, then another. Before she knew it the sun was rising in the dusted window down the hall. He finally came back to his apartment.

He stepped out of the elevator and stopped short, as he saw the brunette sitting cross-legged on his door step.

"Hi." She stood.

Adam stared at her, "What're you doin' here, Marce?"

"I wanted to see you," She replied weakly. Her gaze flickered over his bandages. "Why'd you-" She faulted, rubbing her hands on the front of her jeans. "Did-did I do something wrong?"

He looked down at her hands as she began to wring them out again. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" a perplexed gaze came over her eyes as he gently set his good hand over hers.

"That." He kept his tone flat, but gently squeezed her hand, "come on."

Adam fumbled with his keys but she made no move to help him. Finally unlocking the door, he ushered her in.

-

She was staring at him again.

Adam closed his eyes, leaning over the sink as he spit out his toothpaste. "What is it, Marcy? What'dya want?"

Choosing to say nothing, she simply crossed her arms and walked away. Danny was wrong. She didn't know what to do with him. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her to hug him, kiss him, _something_! Let him know she was there! Anything!

One part even told her to hit him. But she didn't. That would be cruel, tempting, but cruel.

Marcy stopped just short of the bed room and turned on her heel. Hell no. No one got the best of an Allerdyce. Storming back in his direction, Marcy threw the door open.

"What the hell-oh." She quieted, watching him peel off one of his bandages. "Sit down."

He looked at her briefly, "what?"

Putting a careful hand on his arm she gently guided him toward the lidded toilet. "Sit down."

Adam did as he was told, flinching when she took his face in her hands. He couldn't help but feel like he was under some kind of microscope as her eyes took on a determined glare. Marcy's nimble fingers trailed along the outline left by his dirtied gauze.

As he began to shuffle uncomfortably, she let go of him to pull open the cabinet above the sink. Closing her eyes, she cleared her throat. His cuts-they were shallow, they wouldn't scar but that didn't stop them from scaring her. He was lucky, a few cuts and a couple cracked ribs paled in comparison to what they could've done to him…but for some reason Marcy couldn't stop thinking of what _had_. Quick to brush the tears away, she picked some dressings from the cabinet.

"You…" Adam sighed, he hated seeing her like this, it frustrated him. He wasn't completely helpless. He could be on his own for ten goddamn minutes. "You don't have to be here."

But his voice sounded more like a whimper and he gently took her pant leg, holding it loosely in a fist. Light blue eyes watched as she carefully cut a length of white dressing.

"You don't need to-"

"Yes I do." Marcy sighed, the tears coming freely, beyond her control. "I-" Her voice cracked, and she took a deep breathe before looking at him, "I can't- I'm not-"

Marcy sniffed, and took his face in her shaking hands again. Her darkened eyes took in his cuts, his quiet misunderstanding. "I'm not good with stuff like this, Adam. I don't comfort or-or say the right thing. I-…I can do this." She nodded, more to herself then him, "this is something I can do. Something I wanna do, okay?" She dropped her hands to his shoulders carefully. "I wanna help, Adam, I wanna do this."

He watched her confidence slowly crumble and he nodded, cupping the back of her thigh with his hand, keeping the bandaged one in his lap.

"Okay." He murmured nodding again, as he leaned into her embrace. "Okay."

-

Hours later, Adam lay on his side, suppressing a groan. The doctors had warned him against this position, but he couldn't bring himself to lie on his back. His face, sides and hand seemed to be throbbing in sequence. Marcy was behind him, weary to wrap her arms around him.

The two had barely spoke since that incident in the bathroom.

She fiddled with her fingers a moment. Rolling on her side, she hesitated before gently placing a hand on his upper arm. Giving him a soft kiss on the shoulder, Marcy laid to rest behind him.

Adam smiled to himself_. I suppose it wasn't so bad having her here._


	32. Lousy News and Love

They woke to a shrill ringing.

"Is the apartment on fire?" Marcy muttered, pulling him tighter.

He winced at the contact, but wrapped his arm around her regardless. "No, someone's at the damn door."

"Would it be unethical to ignore it?"

He sighed, moving to sit up, only to have her pull him back down. "Marce-"

"I'll get it." She eyed him, "it's not your other girlfriend is it?"

Adam grinned at her for the first time since _it_ happened. Kissing him quickly on the forehead, she made for the door.

"Hey, Marce." Danny quirked a smile at her, "you're still here?"

Marcy pulled the door open for him. "Yeah."

"He up yet?" The man asked, stepping into the small spotless apartment.

"Mmhm. I'll get him for you, just a sec."

Danny caught her arm as she went around him, "hey, did every thing go okay between you two?"

He saw her resistance, "as good as can be expected I guess."

"Hey, what's up?"

The two jumped at Adam's voice, and Danny wrapped his arm around Marcy. "How ya holding up, buddy?"

"Fine." Said Adam, "how's your hand?"

"Fine, yours?" Danny asked, tilting his head away from Marcy as she reached toward a minor cut on his chin. "Quit it."

"Sorry."

"Fine." The man smiled, and Marcy quickly went to him. Slipping an arm around his waist, she was careful not to put pressure on this side. Danny smirked at the two, watching as Adam looked down at the young woman affectionately.

"Just thought I'd check." The man grinned now, moving toward the door.

"Oh." Adam's eyes widened as he caught the hint that the man was sending him, his cheeks darkening to a reddish hue. "_Oh_."

Marcy looked between the two, "_oh_, what?"

The men exchanged a look.

-

"I don't get it."

Marcy looked over at Adam as he flicked through the channels. "Get what, Beak?"

"It's a Saturday and nothing is on." His burned hand didn't leave many options beyond TV. Video games required too much dexterity and sex-well. He doubt sex would be fun with two cracked ribs and a busted hand.

Two days had passed, and he was feeling considerably better. After Danny had a rather through talk with him about the department's regulations on kidnapping, Adam had agreed to take a week off.

Flipping through her anthropological text book, Marcy sighed. "I know where your coming from, sweetheart. You can only re-read the same paragraph so many times before you think about ripping the damn thing out."

She tossed it to the side and crawled over to him. He glanced down at her from his seat on the couch. "What'cha doin'?"

"Something fun." She replied, unzipping his pants.

"What's-oh." His head rolled back and Marcy smiled from her position between his legs.

-

"Yeah. Okay. Uh-huh. Glad you understand-why did they send it to my apartment?"

Adam watched as Marcy spoke to her boss-Eric, not Mac- as the two lay on his couch. His head rested on her stomach as she ran her fingers through his shaggy reddish hair.

*click.*

"He sent his phone bill to my house." She sighed wrapping an arm around his chest. "Wants me to drop it off to him later."

"Can I come?" He looked up at her, reminding her of a small child asking to go to the store with their mother.

"'course, kitten, no problem." She gave him a light kiss on the forehead.

-

"_You have_ **six** _unchecked messages. To listen to the unheard messages press five. To listen to saved messages press-"_

Marcy hit five. Sighing as Adam emerged from the bathroom.

"Hey, Marce, it's mom, just checkin' in, call me back. Love ya."

Adam grinned at that one, nudging her as the next one came on, "mama's girl."

"Hey, it's Angela, just making sure the Angelator's working okay for ya, call me."

Marcy scribbled a quick note down on some scrap paper next to the phone. _Call Ang_.

"Hello is this-" Marcy deleted that one, "Damn telemarketers."

Adam moved behind her bent form, pulling her closer, he kissed the back of her neck.

"Marcy! Baby! Stop ignorin' my calls! Love ya! Oh- It's Nikki!"

"Well, obviously," Adam chuckled throatily, turning her around and pushing her against the wall. He moved from her collarbone to her chest as he slipped her shirt over her head.

"Amarcia? It's doctor Brennan calling to inform you that the date of our trip has moved up-so you'll have to come to D.C February first instead of March twentieth. Call me back as soon as you get this so we can make further arrangements."

Adam pulled away from her. "That's-that's like three weeks away."

"I know." She looked at the floor. Pulling away she picked up the phone, "I should call her."

Adam walked away from her, settling in, in the bedroom. He sat on the bed, his ribs creaking with protest as he leaned forward.

This couldn't be happening. The month wouldn't have been enough-but Christ two weeks?! That wasn't fair-none of this was fair. He shouldn't have to send the only woman he ever-

His head shot up, blue eyes wide. He knew-knew he _cared_, in love, yeah sure-but-but…he turned his gaze to the picture of Ella and Marcy on the night side. Her blues eyes sparked mischievously back at him from the frame and he smiled softly. Adam felt a pang in his heart as he admitted it to himself. He loved her.

Meanwhile Marcy was nodding along to what the doctor was saying, but not really listening.

"Okay." She murmured, setting the phone back on the hanger. Roughly rubbing her eyes, she straightened herself out.

This was exactly what Brennan has warned her about. She should've just kept her heart in the goddamn box, now she had to leave the only man she ever-

Her head snapped up_. No, no, no, no, no, no. _she shook her head, sliding against the couch onto the floor. She didn't love him.

"_I don't love him," she _whispered, shaking her head_, "I don't, I don't…"_

Marcy fought back her tears, she _**didn't**_. Trying to calm her self she took a deep breathe, only to choke on it as another sob.

Oh fuck, she did.

"I love him." She muttered, looking toward the open bedroom door. A watery smile came to her lips as she stood.

Adam was lying on her bed, staring up at her off white ceiling when she entered. She didn't pause to look at him, didn't make her presence known. Simply crossed the room and planted her legs on either side of him.

She yanked her shirt off, then slid her hand up his own.

"Marcy-"

"I figure we can go about this two ways."

He looked up at her as she undid his belt buckle. When he made no sound, she went on. "We can either mope about it, or we can have sex. What's it gonna be?"

Adam opened his mouth but paused when he noticed the barely visible tear stains on her face. "Marce…"

"Yeah, Beaker?"

He gently took her shoulders and pulled her down to him. "Watch the hand, alright?"

-

A/N: god this one was just all over the place, sorry 'bout that. I was rushed.


	33. Avas Lifes Work Is Blue

Adam watched from his chair in the kitchen as Marcy carefully wrapped a picture in newspaper.

Nineteen days left.

He blinked. That wasn't a long time-in fact it was incredibly short. He'd have to ask Mac for advice on how to handle this situation because he sure as hell was doing too well on his own.

"Adam?"

He snapped out of his daze and looked at her, "what's up, Marce?"

"What-" He watched her sigh as she placed the photo carefully in a cardboard box. "What do you think I should do with the Angelator?"

It wasn't what she wanted to ask. Marcy didn't meet his eyes from her seat on the floor. She wanted to ask him what this made them. If it changed anything…_well_, she mused, _of course it changes things. I'm going to be six thousand miles away._

Adam shrugged, standing from the chair, "mail it back I guess…I mean, you're going to D.C for a bit first right?"

Marcy nodded as he took a seat next to her. "Doctor Brennan says next week I'll be meeting Agent Grey."

"Agent Grey?" He plucked a photo album from the box and began to after heartedly flip through it.

"Yeah. Booth says he's the best of the best but I'll still a little leery of the whole thing."

Many of the pictures were older, faded. Adam stared at one a little longer then the others. Marcy in her graduation gown. She couldn't of been any more then fourteen. Smiling awkwardly at the camera, parents on either side.

Nikki gripping her legs.

He flipped to the next page and saw a few more pictures of her, most of them she was bent over a text book, and surrounded by paperwork.

"How long did you say you've been working on your dissertation?"

"About six years, maybe seven. I took a couple months off after high school." She pulled some more newspaper from one of the three boxes in front of her. "Why?"

"You must really want it." He mumbled.

Marcy smiled to herself. "It's my life's work."

"What's it on?"

"The common traits that lead to a premature death." She answered.

Adam looked at her, "what like blue eyes, blonde hair?"

"More like social abnormalities that lead to the Salem witch trial murders."

He stared at her, "they didn't hang awkward, yet brilliant lab technicians did they?"

"No. Lindsey should be fine." She stood, smirking at him as she went to get a drink.

"I meant me!"

"Oh, well," she picked up a bottle from the fridge, "well, you forgot dashingly handsome, so I assumed it was some one else, Beak."

A reddish hue settled over his features as he smiled bashfully at her. "Thank you."

"Statement of fact, babe." She raised her glass to him, "want some?"

"What is it?"

"L&P." Marcy passed him a glass. "Lemon and Paeroa. Nikki sent some to me."

He eyed it wearily. "What _is_ it?" he repeated.

"It's a fizz. The pride of my home town." She took a sip of it. "Don't drink it too fast though, gives ya the hiccups…probably because it's made only yards from the town dump…Stop that." She shuffled under his stare, noticing the smile in his eyes. "What?"

"Say Paeroa again."

"Why?"

He chuckled as she sat back down next to him, "your accent-"

"Oh shut it about the accent!" She gave him a light shove, a small laugh coming from the back of her throat. "You know you have one to, mate."

"See, now your just teasing me…besides," Adam buried his face in her hair as he pulled her close. "I love your accent."

"Thank you," she nodded, smiling softly up at him, "and I love your beard."

They finished their drink in silence, before Marcy went to put the cups in the sink. Just as she did, however, the phone rang.

"Will you-"

Adam snatched the phone from the receiver, "got it!"

"Hello?"

There was a moment of silence, before a woman responded. "You-you're not raping my baby are you?"

"What?" He blinked, who-oh. "You must be Marcy's mom."

"Oh!" Her tone was less anxious, now rather cheerful, "you must be Adikins!"

Adam brought a hand up to cover his face, "ye-yeah, I'm…I'm Adikins."

"I hear you fucked my daughter on Christmas."

"Uh-" There was just something about the New Zealand accent's take on the word _fuck_ he found humorous.

"'Bout time, I hear the two of you danced around that for like a month or something." There was a struggle on the other end, "fuck off, Nik!"  
"But-the death threats!" A new voice, a male one, exclaimed.

"You probably wanna talk to Marce, huh?" Adam asked, partly out of common courtesy, partly out of fear.

"Thank you, sweetheart."

Adam pulled the phone from his ear and sighed, "Dear god."

Marcy had viewed the little spectacle with just the tiniest hint of amusement. Maybe it was best she was leaving. She took the phone from him, "thanks."

He wouldn't last one week with her family.

"Hi, mama."

"Hey, baby Ci."

Marcy grinned at the childhood nickname. "How are you?"

"Fine, but enough about me. Tell me about this Adam kid-he sounds hot."

"He is." Adam sat back down and began wrapping another picture as Marcy gave him a once over as she switched to her mother's accustom slang. "Quite fit."

"Well, how's the sex?"

God, why couldn't her mother been one of those types that just ask you how work went and tell you to drink you're milk!

But before she could stop it, Marcy slipped out, "quite blue."

There was a silence, before, (and Adam heard this from where he was sitting,)

"THAT'S MY GIRL!" rang through the air.

"What-" but when he noticed her flush he smirked, "blue is good isn't it?"

"Like, wow-I mean." Ava stuttered over the line, but Marcy could sense the joy. "I mean, Ella said he was quite solid-but wow."

"I know, right?" The girl giggled, "How's dad?"

"Good, good. Everyone's just-wow, ya know I've never been prouder."

"Ma-"

"Sorry I know that's probably not the best thing to say but-aw, my baby's got a boyfriend."

"Ma-I've had other-"

"Not ones you've introduced to family!" Ava interjected.

Marcy sighed, watching as Adam went back to flipping through the album. "That's true."

"I mean, we all just assumed you were a lesbian."

"For the last time I'm not-"

"I know. I've always known. Nikki owes me a buck."

Marcy blinked, "you were in on the too, huh?"

"Uh-huh, well I gotta go, kitten. Love ya."

"Love ya."

*click."  
Why did everyone in her family think she was a lesbian?

"So…I'm blue?"

Marcy grinned at him, moving in his direction. She straddled his hips, pushing the book to his chest.

"Without even tryin', love."

-

A/N: I really wanted Ava and Adam on the phone together after my mom had a really awkward convo with my sister's boyfriend. So I put it in there.

Fun fact 'blue' in New Zealand slang means pornographic/dirty/steamy/hot.

Solid is attractive, apparently, but I'm Canadian so I don't really know.


	34. Her Children Will Fear Stairs

"Overrated."

"The Power Rangers were not overrated!" Marcy snapped, causing the small redhead to giggle from her spot between the woman and Adam.

Adam flexed his stiff fingers as Cara put one foot on his knee and the other on Marcy's. The burns may have healed up nicely, but the scar tissue was still pretty thick.

"Adam?"

He glanced down at the wide green eyes looking up at him, "Yes, sweetie?"

"Are you going to go with Marcy?"

"No, honey," Adam looked over at the young woman, as Cara leaned against her, "I'm not."

"Why?" the girl asked, "don't you love her?"

"That's enough, Carabear. Besides, I think it's almost bed time."

"Aw, come on…" Cara pouted and Adam could see Marcy's eyes soften, but her lips remained in a tight line. The little one was winning.

The New Zealander sighed dramatically, "Alright…I suppose you could stay up for a few more minutes…but you have to bathe first."

The girls stood, Cara giving Adam a shy wave as they walked away. He watched them go a moment before turning back to the screen.

"_Well, it's just that I'm sick and tired of being a one-of-a-kind freak, that's all."_

Stupid mind altering Muppets. Adam could relate. He was sick of being alone, and in some weird way having Marcy here made him even more alone then before.

He wanted-well, he wasn't sure what he wanted but he knew it involved here being here. With him. Most likely barefoot and pregnant.

Adam's eyebrows shot up-pregnant? Where'd that come from? He wasn't ready for a family, a real life-

The girls returned. Marcy sat on the couch as Cara took a seat in between her legs, staring at the TV.

"Conditioner takes that knots out, or at least most of them." The brunette said, gently running her fingers through her red hair before pulling a brush through it.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

He kept his eyes on Marcy as she quietly hummed to herself. Tilting his head he watched her calm blue eyes carefully analyze where there may be a knot, picking it out with her fingers before pulling the fine red trusses through the brush. There had always been something kind of maternal about her, he supposed. Marcy was exceptional with children. Maybe-maybe he could handle one. For now, anyway.

Adam smiled to himself and placed a feather light kiss on her bare shoulder. Quirking a brow at him, she smiled softly. "Everything alright, Beaker?"

"Fine."

Marcy knitted her brows together, but couldn't stop smiling. Something about Adam was just…she shook her head. Adam was Adam. Plain and simple.

The credits rolled and Marcy pulled Cara up from the floor. "Come on, Care, say goodnight."

"Just a minute!" Cara barked, as Marcy made her way into the bed room. Once she was out of sight, Cara turned to Adam. "Am I still gonna see you?"

"What'd you mean?" the little girl crawled on him, wrapping her small arms around his neck.

"When Marcy leaves…are you gonna too?" She asked.

Adam shook his head, "nah, I'll be around, I'm not sure if I'll see you as often though."

"Oh."

"But I'll try okay?"

She tightened her hold on him, "okay."

"And I do love Marcy." He sighed, patting her back, "it's-it's just complicated."

"I know."

"Come on, Cara!" The accented voice travelled into the room and the girl pulled away, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as she went.

"Night, Adam."

"Good night, Care." He muttered.

-

About twenty odd minutes later, Marcy returned. Slumping onto the couch next to him, she leaned against him as he flipped to another channel.

"She's a good kid." He commented, looping his arm around her as they settled in on the couch. Determined not to look at her, he asked, "You want kids?"

"Hmm. Honestly?"

"Yeah."

"I want like, twelve." She beamed.

Adam smiled to himself. "Seems a little impractical."

"Psh." Marcy scoffed, "who cares? I came from a big family and loved it. If I have kids it's either all or none."

He chuckled and pulled her a little closer.

-

"First day back-excited?" Stella grinned at the lab technician as he entered the info into the computer.

"As can be, Stell. You got something for me?" He rubbed his hands together, feeling the roughness left from the scars. She nodded toward the computer in front of him. "Can you pull up the scene from Lindsey's computer?"

"Sure, no problem." He ticked some keys and the scene popped right up as Danny and Marcy entered the lab.

Adam's eyes shot down to her multi-colored leggings and he smiled. "Hey, babe."

"Well, it's good to see you too, sweetheart!" Danny grinned, slapping the man on the back good naturedly. "What'ca got?"

"I think I found your suspect, this is the surveillance footage I pulled from Lindsey's computer. Look for the large hat at the bottom of the screen." Adam blew up the picture.

"She's stickin' to the blacked out areas, where security cameras can't reach." Stella noted, as Danny leaned a little closer to the screen.

"She's done her homework, huh?" he said.

Marcy tilted her head to the side, "it's like she's not even checking if anyone's watching."

"She knows she's good," Danny shrugged.

Adam stared at the screen intently, "I can tell she's got a bully in her life. Check that out," He replayed a section of the tape. "Look how she flinched when the costumer raised his hands."

"Could be too much coffee," Danny said off handedly, as Marcy gently wrung her hands.

"Or a sign of abuse," Stella nodded, agreeing with the younger man, "A withdrawal like that could be a sign of PTSD."

"How'd you know that?" Danny asked, not noticing his discomfort.

Adam chuckled halfheartedly as Marcy placed a hand on his back. "Heh, my, uh, my dad was a bully."

There was a moment of discomfort before the burly man continued, "So um, I'll add this clip to the profile for when you get back."

The two shared a look and soon departed, leaving the couple alone. Marcy was quiet a moment as she went over to her station.

"Hmm."

He looked over at her, but stayed silent.

"I'll have to push my kid down some steps or something." She commented.

"What?" He stared at her in disbelief. Marcy wasn't one to gouge at painful memories.

"Well," She wasn't quite looking at him, just at the file in front of her. "Maybe if I bully my kid he'll turn out like you."

Marcy gave him a shy glance as he made his way over to her. Taking her face in his hands Adam ran a thumb along her cheek. "You're not emotionally vindictive enough to push a kid down a flight of stairs Marce."

"A flight?" She leaned against his rough hands, "I was thinkin' like one or two tops. Periodically of course, keep 'em on his toes."

She bit her lip, "I mean, if anything, it kind of makes you a better person because of it…stronger." He felt her cheeks heat up under his hands, "at least in my opinion."

"I-" Adam shook his head, trailing his fingers over her flushed cheek. "God, Marce."

"I know." She sighed and pulled him tighter. Fourteen days to go.

A/N: the line is from Muppets In Space.


	35. Agent Connor Grey

"So, Agent Grey this aft', huh?" Stella asked as Marcy took a bite of her Twinkie.

"Yupyup."

"Excited?"

Marcy shrugged, "I guess."

"When are you meeting him?" The woman asked, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Twenty minutes, I should probably go."

-

"Agent Grey?"

The man nodded, flashing her a cheeky smile, "that would be me." He stuck his hand out to her, "Amarcia?"

"Marcy." She said, wincing at the name. "Only Doctor Brennan calls me Amarcia."

"Really? Why?" he asked, and the two took a seat at the small table.

The woman shook her head, "I don't know, she just likes making things complicated."

"Hmm." He smiled at her, "well then, call me Connor."

Connor Grey was an attractive man in his early thirties. His dark blue suit wasn't pressed but rather disheveled, and Marcy began noting the differences between Agent Booth and the lanky man in front of her. Grey was taller (by approximately 3-5 inches), thinner, paler, his hair was longer and he was generally less well groomed then the agent she'd come to know as her boss's partner.

His most startling features were his bone structure, sharp and some what feminine, and his crystal blue eyes.

"So how do you know Agent Booth?" He asked, taking a sip of his water.

"I've been Doctor Brennan's grad student for quite some time now…and he likes to sucker me into babysitting Parker." Marcy said, a hint of annoyance playing in her tone.

Grey chuckled, "yeah, I hear that kid's a bit off the wall."

"You have no idea," she shook her head, "how 'bout you? How do you know Booth?"

"We were in the military together." He answered, vaguely.

Naturally, this brought out the curiosity in Marcy and she was quick to speculate, "So you're a sniper too?"

"Former," he corrected, slightly uncomfortable, "but yeah I was."

Connor shifted in his seat a moment, "Where you heading? Darfur, right?"

"Yep." She took a sip of her water.

"Excited?"

Marcy sighed, "Well-"

"Oh." He raised his hand, "I get it, boyfriend, right?"

"Yep."

"Ya love 'im?" Grey's blue eyes watched her carefully.

"Yeah, I love him." She said. Wringing her hands in her lap she asked, "Are you always this-"

"Intuitive?" He supplied, giving her a smile that had the slightest hint of arrogance to it.

"I was going to say prying." She smirked as he rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Why-yes. Yes I am."

"Hmm."

-Meanwhile -

"No."

Adam stared at him, shell-shocked, "but I haven't even-"

"Didn't I tell you not to get attached?" Mac said, shaking his head. "And you did. Now you have to deal with the consequences."

The man sighed, and gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "Sit down, Adam."

He did as instructed, waiting for his boss to say something. He was not disappointed as Mac rolled his eyes. "Was I correct in my understanding that you're here to discuss a certain New Zealander?"

"Yes." Adam squeaked, feeling like a boy trying to tell his father he'd flunked out of school.

"Hmm. And?"

"And what, sir?"

"Well, what the hell are you gonna do about it?" Mac snapped, watching him flinch under his steely gaze.

"I could ask her to stay but-"

"Then she'd resent you forever, next scenario."

"Uh-uh, well maybe-" Adam was about half a second away from hyperventilating. "I could go-"

"To Darfur, and get shot. Besides you don't have the money or clearance for that." Mac reasoned watching as the younger man licked his lips nervously, "next scenario."

There was a pause.

"Well?"

Adam blinked slowly, feeling his pale blue eyes water.

"Me and Marcy break up." He whispered.

Mac eyed him sympathetically, remembering his experience with Peyton. "I'm sorry, Adam."

He didn't say anything. Just quietly made his way out of the room.


	36. Bad Day With Only Six Days Left

"Hey, Allerdyce, just the grad student I was lookin' for."

Marcy glanced briefly at the detective, "Hey Donnie."

He twitched slightly but didn't move from the door way. He'd been watching her a few minutes, trying to imagine the day she wouldn't be here. "Hear yer shippin' out kinda early."

"Yep." The woman nodded, going back to her work. He entered the morgue, peering over her shoulder to see the shattered remains in front of her.

"What'cha workin' on?"

The bones were small fragments that dirtied the sterile off white gloves she was wearing. The skull was almost complete, but seemed misaligned, and small.

"Why is it-"

"Infant, approximately four to seven weeks older." Marcy's voice was cold, and almost completely void of emotion except the tiniest hint of anger. Her quiet tone is what Don took notice of and put her large hand on her slight shoulder. "Found in a park just outside D.C, in an old gym bag. Three feet underground."

A few tears slipped from her eyes, but she made no move to wipe them away. Instead she simply went back to her robotic movements, but not before putting her shaking hand over Don's a moment.

-

The skeletal remains were resting about a foot away from Marcy when Sid entered. He looked at the table, the tiny remnants of what should now have been a child, than to the young woman staring at them.

And she looked young. Sid had always considered a college, but it was apparent now. She was still inexperienced with cases like this. Marcy couldn't take her eyes from the baby, and Sid knew. He knew she felt it.

"Maternal instinct is kicking in, isn't it, Marce?"

She wrung her hands and bit her lip, never tearing her eyes from the body. "I-I've" She took an unsteady breathe, "These are the smallest remains I've ever worked on, Dr. Hammerback."

Sid shook his head, "How're you taking it, sweetheart?"

"Not well." She chuckled darkly, her accent thickening as a silent sob racked her body, but she refused to move from her position. "I don't know what to do with myself. Doctor Brennan says I should put my heart in a box but-"

"Don't." Sid sat next to her, "first off, it doesn't help. And I'm pretty sure psychologists frown at repression."

The girl chuckled softly and he went on. "Secondly; it's good you feel this way."

"Doesn't feel good," Marcy mumbled, shifting slightly in her uncomfortable plastic chair.

"I know, but it's good for you. It's unnatural to just shut things like this out. It's sad, and it should make you feel bad." Sid nodded solemnly and Marcy eyed him a moment.

"You rhymed that on purpose." She noted, smiling weakly at him.

He chuckled, "you caught me."

"But regardless, these feelings, the sadness, the grief, the utter frustration, will help." Sid said, "They can motivate you to find the guy, or girl, or whatever monster did this. You can bring them to justice." He glanced at the table again, "Did you find a cause?"

"Looks like Shaken Baby Syndrome. But part of the skeleton are missing so it could be an inaccurate hypothesis." She shrugged, but felt considerably better. She looked at the man. "I'm gonna miss you, Sir Sid."

Sid smiled at the nickname and pulled the young woman in for a hug, "I'm gonna miss you too, doctor Allerdyce."

"I'm not a doctor yet."

He shrugged, "I wanted to be the first to say it."

The two chuckled as Marcy wiped her eyes, crying for a completely different reason now.

-

"Six days left."

"Quit being so ominous."

"I'm not being ominous!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

Stella stared at the bickering women. "Now I see where Marcy gets it."

"Yeah." Mac nodded, watching Erica and Josie shout at each other from behind the counter.

This wasn't his ideal setting. When he'd asked Stella if she wanted to go to lunch he'd been thinking of somewhere more…Mac glanced at the women as the blonde threatened to drown the other in spoiled milk, somewhere more normal.

"Why are we here?"

"They have the best hot chocolate in New York." Stella shrugged.

"Why, thank you." Eric popped out from under the counter, electing a jump from the senior CSIs. "At Puffs we strive for…bestness."

Mac inspected the scruffy young man. "I doubt that."

"Fuck you buddy." Eric shrugged, smiling a little, "At Puffs we also believe in wiseassery. Two hot chocolates?"

Mac stared, mouth agape, as Stella nodded, "Thanks, Eric."

"How the hell did you find this place?"

"Marcy works here."

Mac blinked, "you know, some how I'm not as surprised as I should be."

Stella chuckled as her beeper went off. "Drink up, we've got a body in Time Square."

-

"Danny. It's really hard to work this way."

Marcy rolled her eyes as he tightened his grip. Resting his head on her shoulder, Danny sighed, "but this could be the last I see of ya, Marce!"

"No, it won't. Now let go." She attempted to pry his hands from her as he began to sway her back and forth.

"Shh. Shh, its okay, Marce, let it out."

"Let go of me, you-"

"What's going on in here?"

The two looked at Lindsey and Danny quickly dropped the Kiwi.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Marce." He helped her up, receiving a hard smack for his chivalry.

"Bastard."

Lindsey smiled at the pair, before looking at Marcy, who was still glaring at Danny. "Adam know you let Italian men feel you up?"

"Hmm." Marcy smirked, "trust me before you came along, Danny seemed to cling to Donnie, so when he shows females attention we're all just kind of relieved."

"I'm not gay." He growled, earning a '_denial'_ from the women.

-

"Um, Danny? You have to let her go." Adam stared nervously at the man who lay draped in his girlfriend's lap. Arms once again secure around her waist.

"Ya know, what, Adam? No. Never again." Danny shook his head, "every time I let her go she hurts me, and ya know what? No, I'm not taking the abuse again."

"I hit you because you shook me like a damn ragdoll, Messer." Marcy drawled, rolling her blue eyes as Adam shifted awkwardly in the door frame. "Now you can either let me go or I can tell Mac about you and Montana's little rendezvous-"

In a flash he was off her. "See ya t'morrow, Marce."

"See ya."

The man darted quickly from the room as Adam stared at her from the door way.

"What?" She smiled at him.

"Let me walk you home?" he asked.

Marcy nodded. "Course, Beak. You're gonna stay tonight, right?"

"Not tonight." He shook his head, ignoring the brief look of worry. "Come on."

-

"So…" Marcy looked at him as they stood outside her door. "Wanna tell me why we just went fifteen minutes without speaking?"

Adam looked down at his feet. "We gotta break up."

"What?"

He took a shallow breathe, not daring to look up at her face. "I can't do this Marcy. It's not like-it's not like I knew this wasn't coming, and don't pretend you didn't know either."

Marcy blinked back tears. "You used me."

"What?" Adam's head shot up as some tears slide down her cheeks, "I didn't-"

"Yes you fucking did! We both knew I was leaving, but Christ Adam I fucking love you! But I guess-I guess-" She inhaled deeply, as she shook her head, "Get the hell away from me."

"Marcy, it's not-" Adam reached out to touch her but receive a harsh slap in return. "Marcy!"

"Get away from me! If you wanted sex you should've got yourself a damn whore!"

Adam gawked at her, "It wasn't just sex-"

"Well what than? So I'm leaving, I know, but were you even going to discuss this with me or did you just plan on dumping me in the middle of the fucking hallway, Ross?"

"I just think it would be for the best." He said weakly, watching the tears fall from her dark eyes. "And you're not going to guilt me into believing otherwise."

"I'm not trying to fucking guilt you! I'm trying to-trying to-" She didn't know what she was trying to do. "Just get away from me, Adam."  
She let out a soft, defeated sigh, "and I think it'd be better if you stayed away from me."

"I-" He started, but she simply closed the door in his face, the sting seeming worse than before. "I love you, too, Marcy."


	37. Waiting To Die

Marcy heard him through the door, as she crumbled against it. Her chest felt heavy and for a moment she wondered if she was having some sort of attack. '

She wasn't naive. She knew they were going to break up. It didn't take a genius. But that really didn't make her feel any better.

Neither did cussing Adam out in the hallway. Marcy knew he wasn't using her. But it kind of felt like he was. In some warped way.

Like if he knew he was going to end why not do it after the terrorist incident? Why let her coo and worry over him if he was just going to break her fucking heart two weeks later?

She tried to inhale but it got caught in her throat. She gasped and she finally let the sobs that had been haunting her through out the day win.

*ring*

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She mumbled, trying to stop her breathing as she looked at the caller I.D. She groaned at the name.

"What do you want, Kiki?"

"Don't call me that!" Kira growled, "Look I was just wondering if you're leasing your apartment?"

"Yeah," She held the phone away from her ear as she bit back another sob. "Why?"

"Well, my agency is opening a branch in New York and I was thinking I could stay there."

There was a brief pause. "I don't know Kire, it's not exactly-"

"Look, Marce, I need a place, and you got one. If it's any worse than your last place I'll just paint it or something, alright?!" Kira snapped, bellowing into the receiver.

"Fuck off, Kira."

*click.*

Marcy wasn't in the mood to deal with her sister's immaturity. It began to ring almost immediately after, but the young woman simply reached down and unplugged it.

She could deal with her tomorrow.

-

Adam's apartment had two windows. One in the kitchen and one in his bedroom.

His blue eyes stared at the snow as he sat on his bed. Finding it suddenly cold and empty, he couldn't bring himself to sleep there. He gathered up his blankets and moved to the couch.

He flicked on his radio, and the soft sounds came out of its speaker.

**A coma might feel better than this,  
attempting to discover where to begin.  
You're weighed down, you're full of something.  
Of sickness, and desertion.  
You're weighed down, you're full of something,  
you're underneath it all.**

Adam sighed; even the fucking radio was channeling Marcy.

**So say goodbye to love,  
and hold your head up high.  
There's no need to rush  
we're all just waiting, waiting to die.**

He wrapped himself in the blanket as he looked around the room.

"_Hop damnit hop!" Her head rolled back as she sighed._

**Hoping a better place is all I need,  
with moments of innocence and mystery.  
Oh, it's the little things you miss.**

"_So, tell me 'bout your mom." Marcy tilted her head as he ran his fingers through her hair._

**Like waking up all alone.  
Oh, it's the little things you miss,  
when you're underneath it all.**

Adam blinked as he felt the warm tears slick down his face.

**So say goodbye to love,  
and hold your head up high.  
There's no need to rush  
we're all just waiting, waiting to die.**

**All your friends seem like enemies  
when you're broken down and empty.  
All your friends seem like enemies  
when you're broken down and empty.**

Fucking Mac. Why the hell- Adam shook his head. He should've asked her to stay! God, why the hell did he have to listen to Mac?! What the hell did Mac know about women!? He plucked the phone off the reciever and punched in Marcy's number.

"Come on, pick up, pick up…"

"Hello you've reached-"

*click*

**So say goodbye to love,  
and hold your head up high.  
There's no need to rush  
we're all just waiting, waiting to die.**


	38. Commiting To Memory

"Aw, why?"

Marcy rolled her eyes, "you know I'm going to D.C."

Eric pouted, crossing his arms, "so?! Who's going to deliver my mail now?!"

"Uh, the postal service?" She suggested as he huffed.

"You know I don't like the government knowing my whereabouts!"

"Yeah…sweetie, your just gonna have to get over that." Erica patted him on the back as she came out from the back room. Turning the cereal box over in her hands, she handed it to Marcy. "Here."

"Kiwi Krunch?" The woman smiled as her friend flushed, "aw, Riria!"

"Well," Erica's blush darkened, "I figured since you help me out all the time-"

Marcy swept her up in a hug as Eric nodded approvingly.

"Now kiss 'er."

The two stared at him. "What? A guy can dream can't he?"

-10 Minutes Later-

Eric had long been banished to the stock room, as the girls ate cereal and listened to the Tragically Hip.

"I love this song." Marcy said.

"Me too, ya know these guys were the first concert I ever went to." Eric nodded, taking a bit of her cereal. "I was fourteen."

"Really?"

The woman regarded the younger brunette was suspicion, "what's with the tone?"

"Fourteen?" Marcy shook her head, "that's pretty old, ain't it?"

"No! Why?! How old were you!?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, probably six or seven."

"Really?" Erica asked, "Why so young?"

"My dad's a sound man, his whole life is concerts." Marcy stirred her cereal. "It's how he met my mom, actually."

"Aw, what was she a groupie?" Erica asked, chuckling slightly.

"Huh? Oh, god no. She beat the shit of this broad in the mosh pit. Security dragged her out and tossed her in a back alley where my dad was havin' a smoke." Marcy smiled to herself, blissfully unaware of Erica's stunned look, "they've been bangin' ever since."

"Romantic." Her friend said, somewhat uncomfortable. "Speaking of couples, how's Adam?"

"How should I know? I haven't seen him in like three days."

"What?! But-but its _Adam_! You _love_ Adam! He's _burly_!"

Marcy cocked a brow, her voice taking a slightly stoic undertone, "I know. We broke up."

Erica Gawked at her.

"Close your mouth."

She did as she was told. "WHY?!?"

"Because you still have cereal in it." Marcy said, stirring her own some more, although it was slightly less appetizing now.

Erica's gaze sharpened, "I meant why did you break up! You _know_ I meant why did you break up!"

"Because I'm moving, god, what is it with you and Eric?" Mary shook her head, giving a small fake laugh.

"But you _love_ Adam." Erica stated firmly as her friend rolled her blue eyes.

"Yes, you mentioned that."

"I think you could make it work." She nodded, self assured.

The other woman blinked at her. "Didn't you cheat on Eric after he went to his grandparents for, like, a week?"

"That was different!" She snapped, "Me and Eric have the area code pact!"

"That's a stupid, yet resourceful, pact." Marcy smirked.

"Shut up! It'll work, oh I see it now," Erica reached across the table wrapping her arm around Marcy as she stared off into the distance. "He'll meet you at the airport-"

"You know how I feel about conjecture."

"Shut up! This is more for me anyway." Erica tightened her grip, "You're eyes will meet, the crowd will part-"

"I doubt the rest of the people will part. Have you been to an airport lately? The only reason they'd part is if security is dragging someone away for having nail clippers." Marcy rolled her eyes.

Erica smacked her on the back of the head. "The crowd. Will. Part."

Marcy stared into her menacing green eyes and promptly nodded. Obedient. "Crowd will part."

"Damn right it will." Erica shook her head, annoyed with the interruptions. "He'll propose-"

"We've only been dating like a month."

She shook her head, blonde hair flying slightly in her friends face, "doesn't matter. In my scenario you fell in love when you first laid eyes on each other."

"That's lust." Marcy pointed out, tapping her spoon against the bowl.

"Doesn't matter." Erica shrugged, "Me and Eric started out with just lust, and now…" She smiled to herself, "now its more."

Marcy leaned against her friend's embrace, "I like your scenario. As highly unlikely as it is."

"I haven't got to the best part yet," Erica gave her side a sharp squeeze, "you two fuck in the airport bathroom stall."

"Oh, that's just the fairy tale ending the story needed, Riria."

-

_Lonely I am so Lonely I have Nobody to call My own_

"Fucking radio," Adam swore under his breath as he wandered through the lab. He'd seen her moving boxes out of the morgue the day before, and had buried himself in his work.

He couldn't go home and the lab was somehow haunted by Marcy's absence. Every couple minutes he expected multi coloured leggings to sway in his peripheral vision. A chair would spin and he'd think she was in it.

"Adam?" Stella knocked on the door way of the lab as she came in. She folded her hands as she look at him. He knew that look. Pity.

"What's up Stella?"

She offered him a sad smile, "We're having a little get together for Marcy at Sullivan's. I mean, I know things aren't great between you two right now, but it'd mean a lot to her if you came."

He looked at the tiled floor, "I-uh, I'm not sure if I'm ready for that."

"I know." She sighed, "Just think about it. And if you decide to come, we'll be there around nine."

And with that she left. Leaving Adam to ponder his commitments, and of course, his best interests.

He knew it would be best to steer clear of her. He was already getting over her, or at least he told himself he was. Adam dropped his head into his hands.

He had to go.

-

"Adam," Mac smiled at him as the young man sat at their booth. Sliding into it, he set a beer down in front of him. "Good to see you've come out of your recluse."

"Yeah." Adam replied, slightly uneasy as he glanced over the crowd. "Sorry I'm late."

"Late?" Mac asked, "It's not like there was a set time."

"Oh." He took a drink of his beer. Catching sight of yellow jeans, his light blue eyes trailed up to her face, grinning and laughing as Don twirled her.

Mac watched as a small sad smile appeared on his employee's face. A sudden pang of regret hit him as he remembered what he'd told the man, but still felt it was for the best. "I'm sorry, Adam."

He chuckled as he blinked back his tears; eyes still focus on the young woman as Danny grabbed her by the waist, shaking her slightly.

"I can't believe you told Lindsey about Michelle!"

The woman laughed, and Adam watched as she shrugged. And than gave him a half hearted slap across the face.

"No big deal." Adam said, his answer delayed longer then he wanted it to be, "other fish in the sea, right?"

Mac shook his head; he doubted there were many other women like Marcy, "sure, Adam."

-

About twenty minutes later, Marcy disappeared from his sight. Discomfort, annoyance, and hurt radiated off her as she leaned against the wall of the pub.

Why the hell had he come? A few tears dripped onto her pale cheeks, which were slowly flushing from the cold.

"It's okay to be upset, ya know." Marcy jumped at the voice as Mac came around the corner.

"It's stupid," she scolded herself, shifting side to side, "I knew-I knew I was leaving and I still-I still-"

Her voice broke as she turned away from him, "I let my emotions get away with me and-and I couldn't stop it."

"It's not your fault." Mac put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "People work together, become friends." His mind trailed back to Peyton for a moment, "some times something more."

"Yeah, but the differences those people get to fucking stay!" She snapped, roughly wiping her eyes with her sleeve, "they don't have to get on some fucking plane and look them in the eyes and explain that you're choosing your career over the only man you've ever loved!"

Mac took her in his arms as she sobbed against him, "he knows it's not like that, Marcy."

"No he doesn't." She whispered pitifully, "he can't because I'm not even sure if its true. I love him, Mac, but I owe it to myself to go." She nodded to herself, "I've earned this."

"Yes you have." He rubbed her back, awkwardly trying to support her, "and Adam knows it."

"Than why is it so hard to face him?"

"Because you love him, why else? I'd be more concerned if it was easy." He said.

She pulled away from him, not feeling much better. "I know."

Mac offered her his arm, "wanna go back inside?"

"Can I have a minute? Like alone?" The kiwi asked, not really wanting to look him in the eye.

"Yeah, of course."

Mac retreated and Marcy wrapped her arms around herself.

_Why did the universe have to go and cock the fuck me gun? _

-

Marcy sat across from him as the others retreated. Don, Stella and Mac had long gone home, and Danny was dancing with Lindsey on the other side of the bar.

She wrung her hands nervously, waiting for him to say something. When he didn't she took it upon herself to speak.

"I am drunked," She nodded.

He chuckled, "yeah… I could tell from the dancing you were a little buzz there."

"Are you drunked?" Marcy asked, her accent so thick he could only guess what she was saying.

"No."

She tilted her head, and bit her lip. "Too bad."

Adam watched as she slipped out of the booth.

"'Ecause I'm gonna t' make ya dance with me hennyway." She finished, taking his arm and giving it a hard yank.

"Marcy, I don't wan-"

"Nob-*hicc*ody cares what you want, i's my night, Bea-ker."

He let out a sigh as she tossed her arms around his neck. "You're blitzed."

"I *hic* am," She leaned her head on her neck, "'hie'd you even come?"

"You want me to leave?" Adam asked sadly. But she just tightened her vice like grip on him.

Shaking her head firmly, Marcy sighed against his neck. "No."

"Marcy, I know you're mad-"

"I'm not mad." She muttered, swaying drunkenly from side to side. "It's really 'ard ta be mad at 'chya. I get it. Z'aw it comin' piles away."

"You mean miles." Adam stopped her swaying and peered down at her. Her hair was slightly mussed up, and her eyes were closing, blinking heavily at him. He brushed some of the dark strand from her eyes, and slipped his hand into hers. "Let's get you a cab."

-

"Stay." Marcy sat up slightly as he pulled off her shoes. Her dazed eyes watched as he unbuttoned her jeans, and tugged them off, sliding a pair of boxers over her underwear. "Pleeze."

"Marce-" He started but she cut him off with a sloppy, drunken kiss. He was quick to pull away. "I can't."

She sighed miserably. "I miss you."

He bent his head down, reaching to the hem of her top. "I miss you too, Marce."

The woman lifted her arms up as he pulled the shirt over her head. "Stay t'anigh'." She snaked her arms around him, holding him a sad embrace. Adam gently put his hand on her upper arm.

"You're drunk." He whispered, but didn't push her away immediately. Instead he let himself enjoy the feeling of her touch, probably longer then he should have let himself. He tried committing every detail to memory; how she fit in his arms, how her hair caressed his neck, how she smelt. But none of it seemed enough, so he softly pushed her away.

"Stay." Marcy repeated, a slight plea lacing her tone, "I-I don't, I'm-"

She took a moment to collect herself, "I jus' want you t' stay. W'h me."

Adam gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, "go to sleep."

"N-nuh." Her dark hair shook as she whipped her head side to side, before it rested on her bare shoulders. "O'ly if've ya stay."

His rough hand cupped the side of her face, and she quickly rested there. "Please, Adam."

He said nothing else, simply laying down next to her, holding her tight as a few tears fell from his eyes.


	39. Hot Helen Leads To 20 Questions

Marcy opened her eyes in a daze. Her blue walls spun back at her in a hazy protest and she quickly noticed the warm chest pressed up against her back.

Instant panic.

Trying to sneak away seemed unlikely, as their legs were tangled together, but Marcy calmed when she saw a silver, dark jeweled ring on the man's finger.

Adam.

Sighing, she dropped her head back onto the pillow. Her dark brown hair splayed around her. Luckily she'd been smart enough to drink excessive amounts of water in-between shots of various liquors, so she wasn't _that_ hung-over. She briefly went over the previous night, most of it being a blur. But she remembered one part.

_Mother fucker made me beg_. Marcy groaned indigently. She'd _begged_ him to stay with her. God, not like she could play nonchalant now.

Moving with almost ninja like grace, Marcy slid off the bed, and onto the floor. She stared at him from the end of the bed.

Well, he was fully clothed…that was good. She tilted her head, didn't look very comfortable though. He shuddered, and Marcy picked a blanket off the floor. Throwing it over him, Marcy sighed.

_Because you love him. _Stupid Mac and his stupid Jedi mind tricks. She pulled on a pair of jeans and unclasped her bra. Turning from the bed, she dragged a black tank top over her head.

Adam peeked his blue eyes open, watching as she dropped her purple bra to the floor. He took in the pale skin of her back as it was slowly covered by the thick dark material. He closed his eyes, snuggling into the blanket. _Must be hung over._

He kept his eyes closed feeling her move closer, he let out a soft sigh as he felt her lips gently pressed against his forehead. Cool fingers gently brushed his face, and then she was gone.

He heard the door creak as she left the apartment, and he pulled the pillow over his head.

-

"He made you beg?" Helen asked as she slipped on a pair of gold earrings. Her hazel eyes peered at Marcy(who was pouting on a stool in her kitchen) through a large hallway mirror.

"Yep." Swirling the fruit punch in her glass, Marcy nodded, "That bastard."

Helen chuckled, lifting the bag on to her shoulder. "Well, I appreciate you being here during your heartbreak."

Marcy stopped spinning, "I love Cara. And no one else shall babysit her while I'm around-"

"Which is for one more day."

"-especially whilst she is feeling somewhat under the weather." Her blue eyes softening as she cast a cautious look over to the couch where the small red head lay sleeping. "He said it was just a bug right?"

Helen rolled her eyes, "for the seventh time, yes." The woman chuckled as she hooked the clasp of her fashionable heels. "God, if you're like this with the neighbor girl, imagine what you'll be like with your own."

"You know you're both family." Marcy stated, not tearing her eyes from the dozing child.

"Well, you're stuck with us now anyway. D.C or not." Helen smiled, her heels clinking against the tiled floor as she made her way over to the brunette. Pulling her into a hug, Helen sighed, "be a good girl."

Marcy smiled, "I will."

"You'll make us all proud." Helen cupped her face in her tanned hands, giving her friend's pale cheek a light tap. "I just know it."

"Thanks, Hot Helen." The woman smiled, and pulled her taller friend back into a hug.

A beep came from her watch, and the elder glanced at it. "I gotta go."

"See ya later." Marcy walked her to the door, locking it after she left. Sitting on the love seat, Cara blinked at her a moment before crawling into her lap and cuddling into her chest. She was fast asleep a minute later.

-

"Well, look who it is."

Adam jumped at the voice, and spun around. "What?"

He closed Marcy's door behind him as he set out into the hallway, Helen close behind him.

"I hear you two broke up." She prodded, watching his reaction carefully as he went down the stairs.

"We did."

She grabbed him by the arm. "That's strange because, you know; when I dump somebody I don't take time out of my night to make sure they get home okay, let alone share a bed with them."

"Y-yeah, well, maybe-maybe-" He stuttered, shifting from foot to foot.

"_Maybe_ ya still love her, dumbass. Which you do. Now go make it up to her." Helen pushed him toward the hallway they'd just left. "Least you two could have one last fucking night together."

Adam blinked, "I don't know if I can have just one night."

"I know." Helen smiled softly at the younger man. "But you'll regret it if you don't."

-

A light tap came to the door as Marcy moved to refill Cara's orange juice glass.

Eying the entrance wearily, she grabbed the wooden baseball bat Helen kept in the closet. The chain lock snapped into a straightened line as she opened the door.

"What'd you want?"

"I just wanna talk."

She closed the door, unlocked it, then opened it again. "Adam?"

"Hi." He had his hands stuck in his pocket, and sucked on his lips as he dropped his eyes to the bat, "is this a bad time?"

"Wasn't 'til you showed up." Marcy mumbled, but opened the door wider. "Come on in then."

Adam entered the apartment. It was bigger then Marcy's and more modernly decorated. "You took off pretty quick this morning."

"Yeah, that was kind of intended. Ya know, to avoid the whole, awkward-ness." She quirked a brow, "didn't work very well though."

"Yeah, I know. Marce, Helen stopped me in the hall-"

"Oh, _motherfucker_!" She growled, going to spin away from him, but he was too fast. He caught her upper arm and pulled her against him.

Adam eyed her wordlessly a moment, than dropped a firm kiss on her pink lips.

Gripping her tightly as she made to break the kiss, he tried not to think of the bitter feeling of rejection she stirred in him. She shifted under his arms, leaning in as he slipped his hands lower. Taking her hand from the bat, she tangled it in his shaggy reddish hair as it clashed to the floor.

He broke the kiss, but neither moved away.

"Indecisive little thing, ain't cha?" Marcy smirked.

He felt her fingers slip from his hair, and he caught her hand in his. Bringing it to his lips, he placed a chaste kiss on each of her knuckles. Than her palm. Than her wrist. He let his chapped lips linger there, and Marcy stared at him. Just now noticing the dark circles under his eyes.

"Beak…"

He looked at her, "I love you, Marcy."

Her heart stopped a moment and she pulled her hand from his. Wringing her hands together, she shook her head, distancing herself. "No you don't, Adam. Don't make this harder on yourself."

"I do," He murmured, "and you love me too."

She didn't say anything.

"You love me." He repeated.

Marcy nodded, "I do."

Adam wrapped his arms around her hips. Ignoring her slight shaking, he muttered, "Say it."

His breathe was warm on her face and she closed her eyes. "I –"

"Marcy?" Cara came into view, clothed in one of her mother's oversized t-shirts. Marcy separated herself from the man, quick to pick the small child up. "I thought I told you to stay in bed."

"You were gone a long time." The girl muttered, half asleep she eyed Adam. Giving him a weak wave as her temporary caregiver took her back into the living room.

A few moments later, Marcy reemerged, holding a dampened warm rag. Adam made his way over to her as she set it down and picked up the long forgotten glass. Yanking the fridge open, she filled it with orange juice.

Adam grabbed the rag off the counter, and turned the faucet on cold. "Cara's not at school?"

"Doctor says it's just a bug, should be gone within the next week or so." Marcy set the liquid filled glass on the counter top. Tapping her nails on it, she eyed him. "What're you doing here anyways?"

"I wanted to see you, I know you're leaving in the morning," Marcy picked up on his slightly dejected tone, "and I want your last night to be with me."

"Selfish." Marcy taunted, taking the cold clothe from his hand. "This is exactly what Brennan said would happen."

He sighed, giving her a light kiss on the forehead, "I know."

The two moved back into the living room, where Cara was back to resting on the couch.

Placing the little one's head in her lap, Marcy sat on the couch. She lightly dabbed the damp rag on her forehead, nodding toward the chair next to the couch. "Sit down."

Adam did as he was told.

-

_**Several Hours Later.**_

Helen had ushered the pair of adults out of the apartment. Which led to them standing awkwardly in the hall.

"I," Marcy licked her lips. "I just-I'm just not sure if this is a good idea, Adam."

"Neither am I." He shrugged, trying to pull off wistful and uncaring. He didn't quite make it though.

She tilted her head at him, taking in his tense frame, "see, my _booty call _sense is tingling again, Ross."

Adam's eyes twitched into a glare, "don't call me that."

"Well, I'm glad it's getting the desired response." She crossed her arms, holding herself as she leaned against her door. "It's completely illogical to continue a relationship for one day."

"Fuck logic."

Marcy stared at him, "you're the second person to say that to me."

"Well," Adam mimicked her stance, "you should've listened the first time."

"I did listen the first time, that's why we're miserable."

"Oh." He directed his light blue eyes to the floor. "Well-"

He swallowed, than crossed the hall to her. Resting her forehead against hers, he sighed. "This isn't just about you, Marce."

She flushed slightly, than opened the door. "Come on."

-

He watched as she worked her way around the kitchen. "So…"

She glanced at him, "so what, darlin'?"

"What should we do?" Adam asked, shifting from one foot to the other.

Marcy cocked a brow, then turned back to her empty pantries. She'd cleaned them out days ago, and had been living on take out ever since. Plucking the last of her stash out from the cabinet, she held it up to him, "Hoho?"

"Sure." He shrugged, catching it in his hands, as she tossed it to him. "But this isn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Well...what'd you want to do?"

Adam glanced around the room, a few boxes stacked in the corner. _Albums_ labeled the side. "Tell me about your family."

"You gonna tell me about yours?"

He nodded.

"Okay, what do you wanna know?" She sat on the floor of her small kitchen and he took a seat across from her. His legs didn't quite stretch out fully, and he found himself mildly cramped. Crossing his legs, he watched her move, her feet firmly pressed against the counter.

"You're from Paeroa?"

Marcy nodded, stifling a smirk, "Yep. Wonderful town…with a whole four thousand people in it."

"Wow." He chuckled, "Sounds…small."

"Oh god, you have no idea. And my mom's convinced we're related to half of them." Her dark blues took on a dazed look, "probably why I never brought a boy home."

"Yes, one should always fear incest…" Adam nodded solemnly.

"Too bad Eric and Erica don't."

The two chuckled before Marcy sat up from her resting position. "My turn. Ever broke the law?"

"Define _the_ _law_."

A grin lit up her features as she crawled into his lap, cupping his face as he tried to look away from her, Marcy shrieked, "oh my god, you _have_!"

"Well-" He bit back a smile as she beamed down at him, "maybe once."

"Tell me." She cooed, her fingers finding his beard for the first time in almost a week. His eyes fluttered closed as she gently pulled her nails through the course hair.

He opened them cautiously, and smiled back at her. "I may…have helped a friend of mine break into a petting zoo when I was seventeen."

Marcy's brows shot up, and she couldn't seem to get the words out. So he went on. "He lived on the outside of town, and he had this goat, and he freaking _loved_ this goat."

"What was its name?"

"Renegade."

"That's awesome." She chuckled, and then motioned for him to continue.

He did. "Well, one day the humane society came and took the goat away. And he just lost it. So we decided to break the goat out." Adam shrugged like it was nothing.

"And?" The woman probed, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders. "D'ya get caught?"

"Well, I think they always suspected it was us, but never really did anything about it. I mean, he really flaunted that damn thing, took it for walks around town and everything." He said, feeling Marcy drop her head onto his chest. Burrowing herself there, she murmured, "That's really sweet, Adam."

"How 'bout you? Ever break the law?"

There was a moment of silence. "'Course, Beak, I _am_ an Allerdyce."

"Well?" Adam said playfully.

"Doesn't leave this room?" Her tone was more serious than he expected, but he nodded regardless. "Of course."

"Well, I've had sex in public, repeatedly, I've lied to police officers, I've gone on three joy rides, I've commandeered a vessel-"

"You stole a boat?" he laughed, tightening his hold on her as she wrung her hands out.

Glaring playfully at him, her head bobbed in a nod, "_Commandeered_ a _vessel_. I also helped my grandfather solicit drugs and have spit in public on many occasions. Most recently being about six days ago outside the crime lab."

"What do you mean solicit drugs?" Adam's eyes watched her reaction carefully.

"Oh, just pot. He was this huge pot head and he liked sharing so I used to deliver brownies and stuff for him."

Her frankness, and all around easy going nature about this, disturbed him slightly. "Right…any way…"

"Tell me something I don't know about you." She offered.

Naturally, he grabbed at the chance to change the subject. "I uh-I…well, my uncle Jack was the guy who convinced me to move to New York."

"Really?" Marcy tilted her head, moving around so she could rest her back against his chest.

"Yeah, drove me down here, got me a job, got me in school." He smiled fondly. "Great guy."

"Where's he now?"

Adam placed a chaste kiss on her neck. "He died about two years ago."

Marcy's nimble fingers delicately spun his rings. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"Not your fault." He put his head on her shoulder. "Nobody's fault. Just got sick."

She continued to spin the dark oval rings hypnotically as he watched them. "I'm still sorry."

"Not your fault." He repeated, pulling back to lean against the counter, "So, most embarrassing child hood story?"

"When I was four, I apparently had a fascination with nudity and would run through out the neighborhood screaming _I'm naked_ at the top of my lungs. This continued until I was about five and learned about shame." Marcy blushed then smiled, "After that I became quite fond of hiding in our backyard, and Blair was the only one who could ever find me."

"Aw."

"Shh!" She gave him a swat on the leg. "Alright, since we're getting all personal…and rude, how older were you when you popped your cherry?"

"Marcy!" He shouted, flushing darkly, though she couldn't see it.

"What? You started it." Oh, how sweet vengeance was.

He shifted under her, "eighteen."

"Okay, next question."

"That's it? No teasing?" Adam asked, relieved.

"Nope."

Adam took one of his hands from hers. Running it up and down her spine, he smirked as she shuddered. "Alright…are you wearing a bra?"

Marcy coyly shifted in his lap, applying the slightest amount of pressure to the front of his jeans. "No."

He chuckled huskily in her ear, slipping his hand up her shirt. He cupped one of her breast's, "Wanna take this to the bedroom?"

Marcy closed her eyes as she felt his other hand start to undo the button on her jeans, "funny, that was gonna be my next question."


	40. Favorite Fuck Ups

He trailed his fingers up and down her bare arm, watching as her eyes started to close. "Don't fall asleep." He whispered.

Marcy placed a light kiss on his chest, "It's only six, Adam, we could sleep for a while…" Her eyes continued to droop, "then get up."

He didn't say anything, just ran his fingers up and down her arm.

-

Sometime later, Adam woke to find himself in a very comfortable situation. Blinking his pale blue eyes open, he found himself lying on Marcy's stomach as she rest against the wall behind the bed. Her bare leg was bent, and he had his arm wrapped securely around it. Massaging the upper part of her thigh a moment, he relished the feeling of her fingers lazily spinning and twirling his hair.

"What time is it?"

Marcy continued to play with his hair, "about nine."

"At night?" He sat up mildly alarmed, "but-" Adam shook his head, "crap."

She pulled him to her chest, giving him a light peck on the forehead, she rubbed his shoulders. "I was kinda enjoying just laying here…Wanna watch a movie?"

"All your stuff is packed," he muttered, going back to cupping her thigh with a rough, calloused hand.

"My laptop ain't," Marcy slipped a cool hand over his spine, electing a shudder from him as her nails grazed down from his neck to the lining of his boxers. Dragging them back up, her eyes, flickering across his back, caught something.

Adam stiffened as he felt her touch a scar just above his rib cage. "Don't."

She ignored him, pulling her index finger along the long, thin scar. It started about an inch from his first rib, and stopped just under his shoulder.

"Shallow," she said, "what caused it?"

"My dad." Adam turned his back to her, going to sit up. Marcy put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes slipped shut as he felt her lips gently press against it. She slipped her arms around his midsection and pushed him back towards her, still placing small soft kisses across his shoulders.

Marcy paused when she got to his hairline. "Adam?"

"Yeah?"

She bit her lip, "I'm gonna miss you, you know that right?"

He nodded, reaching a hand up to cup the back of her neck, "I know."

"Good." Marcy grinned, giving him a light bite on the shoulder before taking his hand from her neck, and kissing it. First the palm than his wrist, making her way down his arm.

"Copycat." He said playfully, fighting back a moan as Marcy sunk her teeth into his neck, "Marce…"

"Mm-hmm?" She moved up to his ear lobe, taking it softly between her teeth.

-

-

"We're gonna wear ourselves out if we keep doing this." Adam panted, pulling her closer as she giggled.

"Who cares? That was awesome." She nodded, smirking slightly, "I must say I enjoyed that little twist on an old favorite."

"You've never done that before?" He flushed. "Could'a fooled me."  
There was a noise in the distance and Adam watched as she stood. "Where ya going, Allerdyce?"

"Phone, Beak." She left the room, and he allowed his eyes to travel over her body as she returned.

"Ugh, no. Damnit-" Marcy's blue eyes rolled in annoyance as she argued over the phone, "Damnit, no, _you_ listen- you-ugh!"

Adam chuckled as she pulled the phone away from her ear and shook it; trying to get out some of her frustration. He tilted his head, trying to remember every detail of her naked body…which would've been a lot easier if she wasn't pacing.

Finally sick of the conversation, she let out a low growl, "I hope you die a violent death, you annoying ADHD mother fucker."

*click.*

The lab tech stared at her, smirking, as she collapsed onto the bed next to him. Taking the phone from her, he glanced at the name.

"Now what'd Nikki ever do to you?" He teased.

Marcy groaned, rolling onto her stomach. "Little fucker's trying to jack my apartment."

"Why?" Adam turned, resting his head on the back of her thorax.

"Because Kira wants it."

There was a slight pause, as he ran a ringed finger over a few scattered freckles that lay over her shoulders. "Why does Kira want it?"

"She's moving out here or something." His head rose and fell softly as she sighed. Marcy smiled to her self, considerably calmer when she realized what he was doing. "So, Adam…what'd you thinks of my mom?"

She actually _felt_ him blush on her back. He said, "She's very…interesting. Really loves you guys…" Adam paused, "maybe not Nikki."

Marcy giggled, bouncing him slightly, "Yeah…weird thing is, Nikki's actually kinda the favorite."

"I'm sure they don't play favor-"

She interrupted him, "Yes they do, we all do. Nikki's just our favorite fuck up. Just like Kira's our favorite bitch and Blair's our favorite daredevil."

His fingers traveled up to her short dark brown hair and he gently tug and spun it in his fingers, "What about Ella?"

"Favorite by default, she's the youngest," Marcy shifted, practically cooing at his hand motions, "and of course, she's so sweet she makes sugar taste like salt."

Adam laughed, surprised how comfortable he was, considering the obscene amount of nudity in the room. "And you?"

"Well," Marcy sighed, again, and shifted under him, "I _was_ the favorite geek but _someone_, **Adam**, took that title from me. So now I'm the favorite freak."

"You're not a freak," He murmured, putting a chaste kiss on the back of her neck.

She didn't quite believe him, he sensed, so Adam simply changed the subject. "What'd you mean Blair's the favorite daredevil?" he asked.

"Stunt driver." Marcy chirped, pride practically radiating from every pore.

Adam sat up, blinking as he come to a realization, "oh my god, he was who got you into joy riding isn't he?!"

Marcy rolled onto her back, biting her lower lip as she eyed his bare chest. Running her hand up and down it, she nodded, "maybe a little, but it was more Vanessa."

"Hmm." Adam stared down at her affectionately as he brushed back some of her hair. "Friend of yours?"

Marcy let out what he could only describe as a purr, as he moved his fingers down to stroke the valley between her breasts. "Blair's girlfriend, she's a stunt driver too."

"So, excited?" He asked.

"About what?"

Adam smirked down at her, "about D.C?"

"Yeah, totally. Be good to see the gang again." Marcy sat up, looking around the room. "Not looking forward to getting up at four am though." She sighed, running a hand through her hair, "that's gonna suck."

The man watched as his…friend, picked up his discarded shirt from the floor and pulled it over her head. "That's mine."

His comment was met with a pair of boxers flying at him.

"Want me to keep those too, kitten?" Her eyes sparkled coyly. Adam was quick to shove them on. Glancing at her bare legs, he stood, "where we goin'?"

"Well, I don't know where you're going, but if you keep that lustful stare on my legs I'm gonna go with hell, if you believe in that kinda thing." Her back was to him, but the presence of a smirk hung in the air.

"Uh, I wasn't you know…lustful really isn't the right word." He jogged over to her, flinging his arms around her waist, "Admiring, really."

Marcy stumbled a moment, a small _'oomph'_ escaping her mouth at the impact of his larger body gripping hers. He quickly let go.

"I'm-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-I would never-" he turned her around, "I didn't mean to-"

"To what? Startle me?" Her pale hands slipped over his shoulders, as she leaned up, nudging their noses together. "Trust me, Beaker, it takes a lot more than-"

"I didn't mean to hurt you." Adam said, interrupting her and in all honesty, throwing her a little off balance.

"What?" Marcy blinked up at him, "Beak, what're you…you've never hurt me, Adam, you're not capable."

His blue eyes watched her a long while, doubtfully. "I-I almost did. If, if I'd kept my mouth shut at the warehouse-"

"You'd be dead." A cool hand slid down to his ribs. Her fingers brushed a thick, pinkish scar, "and that would hurt me worse then anything you could do with your hands, Adam."

"Besides," She continued, "We Allerdyces are made tough, like a rock. And possibly some kind of Detroit muscle car. Like Dodge Challenger."

Adam fiddled with the hem of _his_ shirt, "a Dodge Challenger?"

"Not just any Dodge Challenger. A 1970 Dodge Challenger with a 440 engine and a white paint job."

He squinted down at her, "did you get that from Death proof?"

Her pale cheeks flushed, "maybe."

"Maybe?" Adam tilted his head as she tenderly ran a finger over his beard.

"Okay, I did!" Marcy rolled her eyes.

He looked around the apartment, "did you pack your clock?"

"Yeah, like two days ago." She shrugged, "why?"

His hands travelled just inside her shirt. "Don't you have to shower before you go?"

Marcy moved her hips towards his warm hands, "I think you're right, Beak, I do."

-

-

The pair collapsed on to the bed.

"We really gotta slow down." Marcy breathed, burying her face in a pillow as Adam chuckled. She wrapped the towel a little tighter around herself, smiling at him.

He watched as her eyes started to drift closed again. Gently running his fingers through her damp hair, Adam placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"When's your flight?" He whispered, halfheartedly trying to keep her awake.

"Four fifteen, but Grey's picking me up at three thirty."

"Hmm."

The two gazed at each other a moment before falling into an exhausted sleep.

*A/N:

Oh…last chapter before the end…If you want a sequel…I expect at least one person to mention it. And this will come with a epilogue. Be exicted.


	41. The End Is The Beginning Is The End

An insistent beeping woke them up. Adam clutched her tighter. "Is the apartment on fire?"

"No," Marcy reached over him to her phone, "just my alarm clock."

She switched it off, and rolled onto her back, staring at her ceiling for what would be the last time. The water stain that freaked her out so bad the first night she slept there now seemed rather…alright, true it was still ugly and unhygienic, but she had grown to love it none the less.

Adam rolled on his side, looking tentatively at her. "What time is it?"

"Two-thirty." She turned her head, slightly weary to take her gaze from the spot above her, but she did none the same. "You don't have to get up, Beaker. But Josie and Harper are moving in this aft' so I wouldn't stick around too long unless you wanna be a-what?"

He continued to smile at her, running his finger along her cheek bone, "I'm gonna get up."

"Good." She crawled over him, hovering a moment, Marcy appreciated the view of his bare torso before finally making her way off the bed. She was really going to miss that.

Wandering into the bathroom, she closed the door behind her, and leaned against it for support as reality smacked her across the face.

This would be the last time she seen him. For well over a year at least. Seen any of them. Stella, Mac, Sid, Danny…hell she'd even gotten attached to _Lindsey_. She pushed away from the door and looked at herself in the mirror. Watery blue eyes blinked back at her, but she held herself together.

The last image Adam would have of her would not be one of her crying, no way in hell.

She brushed her teeth and threw a brush through her hair.

-

Adam stared at the closed door, the towel she had been half heartedly wrapped in, discarded on the floor. He stared at it as he pulled a pair of boxers off the floor. Sliding them on, he left the room so she could change.

-

About fifteen minutes later, she came into the living room, where Adam, too, had pulled himself together.

The two watched each other a moment, neither quite sure what to say. Marcy began wringing her hands together as Adam rubbed the back of his neck.

"So," He said, "when are the movers coming?"

She gave him a forced smile, "part of the agreement with Josie was that she and Harper would make moving arrangements. Most of its going to storage, but a couple boxes'll be shipped to D.C."

There was a small pause before Adam found himself swept up in a hug. Inhaling deeply, he sighed. "I thought you weren't going to wear that perfume anymore, Marce."

"We already broke most of them, I figured why not?" Marcy nuzzled into his shoulder.

They held each other a long while, before she pulled back. Cupping his face in her hands, Marcy smiled at him.

"You know I love you, right?" She licked her lips, and rested her head against his, "I swear to god, Adam I-"

He silence her with a swift kiss. Pulling her into his lap, Adam slipped his fingers through her hair as she moved her hands down to his neck, gripping the material that lay against it.

"I know," he murmured, running his hands up and down her sides as she leaned against him, "I know."

"More then anything," Marcy said quietly, closing her eyes as he brushed a stray tear away for her.

"I love you too, Marce."

She nodded, chuckling, "I know."

"I want you to visit. To call. Anything." His voice had taken to a slight plea and she opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "Promise me, Marcy."

"I promise. I'm not sure how often I'll get the chance to use my phone in Darfur, but I'll try, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded, resting his head on her chest, listening to her heart beat as he nodded again, "okay."

Marcy bit her lip, "What about Christmas?"

Adam smiled at her, "What about Christmas?"

"I'd like to see you, the first Christmas I get off." She ran a finger over his beard, smiling to herself as she did, "even if it's just as friends, I'd like to keep you around, Beak."

"Okay," He said looking up at her from his position on the box he was sitting on, "I'd like that."

"Oh you say that now," She smirked, trying to lighten the mood, "but one day, when you get yourself a pretty little girlfriend, you're gonna regret letting me stick around."

"I'd never love her like I do you."

Marcy stared at him, blinking back tears she chuckled, and continued to run a finger up and down his beard. "I hope you do. You're really good at it."

"I'm good with you." He whispered, and pulled her in for another sad kiss as her phone rang.

"That'll be Grey."

Silently begging her to ignore it, he reluctantly let go of her. But his plea went unanswered as she answered it.

"Hello? Okay. Alright, I'll be down in a minute." Marcy flipped it shut and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Adam."

"Love you too, Marcy."

They held each other a moment. Quiet in their discontent, before she grabbed her bag, and left without another word.

-

The taxi waited down stairs for her. Grey offered her a weak, understanding smile as he took her bag from her. The streetlights looming ominously in the darkness.

Marcy glanced up at her window, just as Adam appeared in it. Giving him a weak waved, she turned and got in the cab.

Adam leaned his head against the window, squeezing his eyes shut as she drove off. Next to him, his phone rang. Deciding not to ignore, he flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Adam."

"Oh, hey Danny, what's up?"

The man on the other end sighed, "Nothin', just checkin' in. I was actually hopin' ta catch Marcy, she still there?"

"No." Adam muttered, "She's gone."

"Oh, god. Adam, I'm sorry." Danny's tone was attempting to be comforting, but in reality came off a little pitying.

"Yeah, thanks, look Danny, I gotta go, alright?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem. I'll see ya at work."

"Yeah." Adam sighed, clicking his phone off. He grabbed his jacket, giving the empty apartment one last forlorn look, he left it.

-

Marcy blinked back tears as they boarded the plane. Grey was quick to put his seatbelt on as he said, "You should call him, make yourself feel better."

"I doubt it'll make me feel better."

Connor cocked his head, "of course it will. You love him."

"yeah, I know, thanks for that." Marcy growled, looking out the window.

"So…" He plucked the in-plane phone from its holster, "call him."

She eyed it a moment before taking him from it. Turning it over in her hands a moment, she dialed his number slowly. A few tears slipped from her eyes as it wrung.

"Here." Grey said, passing her a tissue from the dispenser in front of him.

"Thanks."

"Hey, you've reached the voice mail of me, Adam, uh-leave a message? No wait that shouldn't sound like a quest-*beep*"

"Adam, uh, it's Marcy-I think-I think I made a mistake." Her voice broke and the tears came more freely. Grey turned his head away, trying not to embarrass her. "I-I'll call you when we land." She clicked end and leaned back against the cushioned seat.

"I'm sorry, Marce." Connor gave her hand a pat before returning it to his lap.

"Yeah, me too." She muttered, looking out the window as the pilot's voice came over the speakers, telling them they would be taking off in a moment.

Closing her eyes Marcy let out a sigh, as the plane lifted from the ground her heart dropped into her stomach.

"_I want some skittles, gimme a pack of menthols, and, uh, them hohos, oh I love me some hohos!"_

"_I don't hate snow."_

"_Then why did you keep calling me Awkward Adam?"_

Marcy raked a shaking hand through her dark hair as she turned back to the window.

"_Why is this so hard?"_

"What?"

Grey's voice caused to jump, "What?"

"You said something about being hard…"

"This is hard." She muttered, snatching her iPod from her purse.

"Of course it's hard, if it was easy-"

"Shut up, Agent Grey." She snapped, brushing some of her tears back as she slipped on her head phones.

Sighing she leaned back. Sparing a glance out the window she smiled softly. The city looked so pretty at night.

A stray tear slipped down, and she chuckled as her favorite song came on. Ironic…We Are Scientists…After Hours.

-

Adam laid on his couch. Why the fuck did his radio always have to channel Marcy? He flipped the offending object off, figures the only thing on would be her favorite song. He closed his eyes.

"_That's it, sweet heart's earned a nickname."_

"_Oh, and I'm undecided between Awesome Adam and Adam the Amazing."_

"_Don't think I don't see you watching me, Beaker."_

"_Why is this so hard?"_

"Because you love her idiot." Adam muttered, rolling onto his side. The radio from the neighbor's apartment drifting over to his own and he groaned.

_**This door is always open  
This door is always open  
No one has the guts to shut us out  
But if we have to go now  
I guess there's always hope that  
Some place will be serving **_**_after hours_**

_**This night is winding down but  
Time means nothing  
As always at this hour  
Time means nothing  
One final final round cos  
Time means nothing,  
Say that you'll stay  
Say that you'll stay**_

_**We're finally drunk enough that  
We're finally soaking up  
The hours that everyone else throws away  
And if we have to go now  
I guess there's always hope,  
Tomorrow night will be more of the same**_

_**This night is winding down but  
Time means nothing  
As always at this hour  
Time means nothing  
One final final round 'cos  
Time means nothing  
Say that you'll stay  
Say that you'll stay  
Say that you'll stay**_

_**We're all right where we're supposed to be  
We're all right where we're supposed to be  
We're all right where we're supposed to be  
**__**Time means nothing**__**  
We're all right where we're supposed to be  
**__**Time means nothing**_

_**This door is always open  
This door is always open  
No one has the guts to shut us out  
No one has the guts to shut us out**_

_**Time means nothing  
Time means nothing  
One final final round coz  
Time means nothing  
Say that you'll stay  
Say that you'll stay  
Say that you'll stay**_


End file.
